About Me
Life Close to the Bone
One of the most important factors in successful therapy, and life in general, is the quality of our relationships.
My hope is that what I share with you here will help you begin to know me and how we might work toward change together.
The Practice of Living
We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.
Charles Bukowski
The name Figs From Thistles is inspired by one of my favorite poets, Edna St. Vincent Millay. She was a pretty radical woman in the 1920's. Her writing captures the urgency to live vibrantly and intensely. To not be eaten up by nothing.
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In ancient cultures figs symbolized fertility, the lusciousness of life, and thistles the problem weeds getting in the way. My feeling about life is yes to pain being inevitable, but also yes to beauty, joy, and kindness.
Gathering figs from thistles is the alchemy possible for each of our lives. This metaphor also speaks to the strange truths of existence. Life and death are close neighbors and we spend our lives trying to make sense of this mystery. We are dying and living all at once.
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As an almost native Oregonian I am an outdoor kid. But I also love a lot of other things. My curiosity ranges far and wide; Art, Dreams, Mythology, Science, Comics, History, Philosophy and more! The medium of therapy has been the biggest circle I can draw around my interests and is deeply fulfilling because of that expansiveness. I would describe myself as a pragmatic idealist and a divergent thinker. One of the biggest things I wish for my clients is to also find their own best way of being themselves in the world.
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First Fig
MY candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends–
It gives a lovely light!
Education & Training
​Education​
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MA Counseling 2011
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MA Process Oriented Facilitation & Conflict Studies 2019
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Further Training
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Supervision
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LGBTQIAA+ issues
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Trauma-Informed Systems Change
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Buddhist Psychology & Gestalt Therapy
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Dialectical Behavior Therapy
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Mentalization-Based Treatment
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Jungian Psychology
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Psychoanalytic & Psychodynamic
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Hakomi
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More Experience
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Clinical Director
- Program Development
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Graduate Teaching
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Presentations/Workshops
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Facilitation of Consult Groups
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Clinical Mentor
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SECOND FIG
SAFE upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!
Edna St. Vincent Millay