I first worked with children and adolescents as a gymnastics coach 20 years ago. It was a joyful experience. I witness and experience that same joy as a counselor: seeing children work out their problems through play therapy; being present as an adult client learns to love, work, and play; and watching a family leave a session laughing again..
I continued my work with children and adolescents, first as a substitute teacher at an elementary school, and then as an Academic Coach at a therapeutic boarding school for high school boys. The school focused on helping students with ADHD. It was there that I began using a solution-focused approach to helping others. It also gave me the opportunity to apply behavior modification techniques in a therapeutic setting, techniques I now teach to parents.
I first worked as a licensed counselor in 2009 at a busy community agency. During the four years I worked at the agency, I had the opportunity to work with varied problems, populations, and diagnoses, experiences that continue to inform my work.
In 2018 I attended training In Rapid Resolution Therapy, an approachgrounded in neuroscience that emphasizes treating the whole mind. Iparticipated in yearly trainings through 2021, and with additional study of other therapeutic approaches grounded in neuroscience, have improved outcomes for a majority of clients. The study of the organ mental health professionals treat has given me the clarity that lasting outcomes are better achieved by interventions that involve talk combined with experiences designed to communicate with the non-verbal areas of the brain.
When I'm not counseling, I'm either training to improve my counseling skills and learning how to do what I can right now to provide generations to come the same clean water and natural beauty I took for granted growing up. I am often attending to the urban food forest I built with the help of friends and family, supported by the expertise of the exceptional instructors of the Austin Permaculture Guild. Over the last five years, I have restored soil health through organic treatment of insect, fungal, or bacterial infections; using natural filtration barriers to minimize the impact of neighbors' use of the '-cides'; composting to recycle nutrients, mulching for water retention, selecting the right 'microclimate' for each plant, providing multiple water sources and plants for pollinators and other wildlife, rainwater harvesting, providing hiding spots for birds and reptiles, and attracting or releasing beneficial insects. The space is now a functioning ecosystem, humans included. Each time a plant begins to show signs of thriving -- producing flowers and fruit -- I experience the same joy of hearing a family laugh together again.
Post-graduate Training in DBT, CBT, and ADHD:
* DBT Validation Principles and Strategies, The Linehan Institute, 2015, 8 hours CEU *DBT Chain Analysis, The Linehan Institute, 2015, 4 hours CEU *An Overview of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Principles, 2011, 3 hours CEU *Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD, JFS of San Antonio, 2008, 6 hours CEU *Eating Disorders, Methodist Healthcare System, 2009, 1hour CEU *Eating Disorders, Body Image and Co-occurring Disorders, 2014,Ames High, 3 hours CEU *Self-injury: The Silent Struggle, Ames High, 2014, 3 hours CEU *Suicide Assessment and Interventions, 2013, Ames High, 3 hours CEU
*The Evaluation of ADHD in Children and Adolescents, Russell Barkley, 2016, 1.5 hours CEU *The Adolescent and Adult Outcomes of Children [treated vs. untreated ADHD), Russell Barkley, 2016, 2 hours CEU *The Nature of ADHD: The [Executive Function], Russell Barkley, 2016, 2 hours CEU *The Importance of Emotion in ADHD, Russell Barkley, 2016, 2 hours CEU