I am the owner of Nameshape Counseling which was founded in 2023 following four years of supporting individuals and groups across LGBTQIA2S+ identities in queer-focused community mental health settings. My work both currently and historically includes–but is not limited to–accompanying transgender, cisgender, queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, monogamous, and non-monogamous folks through their healing journeys. I identify as queer and non-binary, White, living with chronic pain, being neuroqueer, and navigating the world as a lifelong class straddler across socio-economic groups. My ancestry weaves together the lineages of various peoples and cultures from across Europe, Asia, and Turtle Island (North America).

I believe that all behavior is rooted in an attempt to care for oneself and survive in a beautiful but challenging world. This includes both the healthy and the maladaptive, strengths and growth edges, wisdoms and neuroses. Within this framework, even aspects of experience rooted in fear, anger, shame, and other “negative” emotions are views as inviting us to look at something, to uncover the inherent wisdom being obscured or protected. Accessing that wisdom can be challenging and dysregulating without support. Within sessions, I work to facilitate clients’ ability to contact the sanity within these difficult and often distressing experiences to alleviate their pain and develop new life skills.

My approach to counseling considers a myriad of intersecting factors that lead to various mental health concerns. This includes the complexities of identity, cultural norms, social structures, family systems, spiritual beliefs, and environmental crises which can all detract from or support holistic wellness. Holding this type of intersectional and expansive approach also means that I tend to favor harm reduction strategies and skill development. It is my hope to increase clients’ sense of agency in their lives while they not only reconnect with themselves, but to their larger ecologies, including human and more-than-human communities. My approach is also firmly situated in the practices of healing justice and trauma-informed care within a world affected by racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, xenophobia, and other forms of institutional, ideological, interpersonal, and internal violence.

My path to becoming a mental health counselor began with my own experiences and struggles coping with persistent depression, grief, and loss. I graduated with a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Contemplative Psychotherapy & Buddhist Psychology at Naropa University in Boulder, CO in 2023. Prior to that, I completed a BA in Contemplative Psychology: Health & Healing, a BA in Yoga Studies, and a 1000-hour Yoga Teacher Training through Naropa University in 2020. As of fall 2025, I am working towards a PhD in Ecology, Spirituality, & Religion through the California Institute of Integral Studies. I have been studying Buddhist, Taoist, and yogic traditions for several years after first being introduced to meditation in 2001. I work with and support clients across many faiths and beliefs and offer both secular and spiritual support to clients depending on their worldview.

In my free time, I am often found writing, painting, listening to records, reading, practicing tai chi and yoga, tending to plants, cooking, baking, walking my dogs, and gaming (in all its forms).