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About me

As a Professional Mental Health Counselor and Certified Life-Coach, I bring an acute awareness of mental health and life issues that profoundly impact the people I serve. As a Professional Christian Counselor, I bring a mix of knowledge, empathy, and encouragement. Together, we will explore where you've been, accept where you are, and look forward to the future that Christ has planned for you. Your pain has a purpose, Christ uses all things together for his glory, I look forward to walking with you on your journey toward healing.

I am trained to counsel with any of the following symptoms/issues: Abuse, Anxiety, Chronic illness, Depression, Grief and loss, Identity issues, LGBTQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Questioning), Marital /couples problems, Parenting strategies, Personal Development, Pregnancy and Postpartum, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress), Post Addiction support, Recovery from Childhood Abuse/Trauma, Relationship issues, and Trauma.

What is Pastoral Counseling?

Pastoral Counseling  is the traditional name for counseling that integrates therapy with a client’s values and faith. It also refers to how counselors respectfully accompany their clients through the transitions and crises of life’s journey. I seek to offer healing for the whole person and see each dimension – body, mind, and spirit – as worthy of care.

Pastoral counseling in a more general sense is psychotherapy that takes seriously the spiritual dimension of a person while working with individuals, couples, and families to resolve emotional or relational problems. Pastoral counseling is built on the belief that life’s crises and transitions are best met by the knowledge of psychology and the wisdom of theology, with respect for a person’s faith background and values. However, only if a client so chooses will I directly address specific spiritual issues.

Services Offered

Individual counseling

People seek individual counseling for many reasons. The list can include, but is not limited to, depression, anxiety, grief, anger, marital or family conflict, past or current abuse, chronic/terminal illness, and parenting issues. Some individuals come to the Counseling to explore career issues, others to heal their mind-body-spirit connections.

Marriage counseling

Marriage counseling is usually a short-term therapy that may take only a few sessions to work out problems in therelationship. Typically, marriage counselors ask questions about the couple's roles, patterns, rules, goals, and beliefs. Therapy often begins as the couple analyzes the good and bad aspects of the relationship. The marriage counselor then works with the couple to help them understand that, in most cases, both partners are contributing to problems in the relationship. When this is understood, the two can then learn to change how they interact with each other to solve problems. The partners may be encouraged to draw up a contract in which each partner describes the behavior he or she will be trying to maintain.

family counseling

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to reduce distress and conflict by improving the systems of interactions between family members. While family therapists often seek to have all family members (affected by the problem) in the room, that is not always possible or necessary. What distinguishes family therapy from individual counseling is its perspective or framework, not how many people are present at the therapy session. This type of counseling views problems as patterns or systems that need adjusting, as opposed to viewing problems as residing in the person, which is why family therapy is often referred to as a “strengths based treatment.”

“Family” is defined by the modern family therapist as anyone who plays a long-term supportive role in one’s life, which may not mean blood relations or family members in the same household. Family relationships are viewed as important for good mental health, regardless of whether all family members are participating in the therapy.   It is an ideal counseling method for helping family members adjust to an immediate family member struggling with an addiction, medical issue or mental health diagnosis. It is also recommended for improving communication and reducing conflict.

Other common reasons for seeking family therapy include:

• When a child is having a problem such as with school, substance abuse, or disordered eating

• A major trauma or change that impacts the entire family (i.e. relocation to a new house, natural disaster, incarceration of a family member)

• Unexpected or traumatic loss of a family member

• Adjustment to a new family member in the home (i.e. birth of a sibling, adoption, foster children, a grandparent entering the home)

• Domestic violence

• Divorce

• Parent Conflict

Life coaching

The focus of life coaching is on personal growth and improvement. Consider life coaching if you are functioning well, but want to overcome obstacles that keep you from greater fulfillment.

Applying my knowledge of psychology, theology and counseling to such issues as:

• Life changes

• Work changes

• Moving from one phase of life to another

• A specific goal you want help reaching

• A specific situation you want to change

Life coaching helps the client who may be feeling stuck or frozen, and works to give them the confidence to make the changes they want to see for themselves.

Premarital Counseling

Couples who are planning on marriage seek premarital Christian counseling for a variety of reasons. Some couples want to better understand issues of compatibility, individual strengths and weaknesses each partner brings to the relationship, communication and relational styles, and personality differences. Other couples have specific concerns they want to address before marriage.

I use the premarital counseling application called Prepare-Enrich  www.prepare-enrich.net 

Preparing for Marriage

Building a successful marriage is one of the greatest challenges of adult life. I can facilitate marriage preparation with couples to increase awareness of their relationship strengths, acknowledge potential areas for growth, and understand important individual and relationship issues identified through their personal life summaries. When there is a second marriage involved, the dynamics of remarriage and stepfamilies are also specifically addressed.

Video counseling