My passion is getting to know, understand, and help people. Everyone has a unique combination of experiences that bring both challenges and gifts. My vision of therapy is an opportunity to explore and bring understanding to the challenges, help cultivate and express the gifts you already have, and, ultimately, increase happiness and peace. It is my role to help you develop a clear understanding about how thoughts, feelings, and relationships tell and shape your story. Finally, how to effectively navigate the many thoughts and feelings that we experience. I do this by blending both compassion and honesty. No two people are the same, and neither is my treatment. To help cultivate this, I use my educational, clinical, and personal experiences. Academically, I was trained with a strong generalist background, and I use an integrative approach. I was a professor for several years at a liberal arts college. This helped reinforce and grow this academic understanding. Clinically, I have worked within a wide range of settings, which have allowed me to see a diverse range of psychological presentations and personality styles. These include working as a psychologist at a group private practice, in the Ohio National Guard, at multiple nursing homes, several university counseling centers, a psychiatric hospital, and community mental health settings. Personally, my contemplative nature and love for self understanding has led me not just to psychology, but also to live at a Buddhist Monastery for a year, meditate at a Christian Monastery, and immerse myself with other contemplative traditions. Besides it just being my temperament, these experiences have cultivated a relaxed demeanor. I am someone who is easy to talk to and, hopefully, can also bring some laughter.