I know what it is like to have pain that you don’t know how you will survive, and have carried these traumas in my body long after the pursuit of survival. It was in therapy as a client that I first had the opportunity to be fully seen, heard, and understood in my pain. The beginning of the path that lead me to wanting to help others know the power within this experience.

Your body and brain are so resilient, doing their best to help you out of your hardest times. Through and even long after surviving the methods you used to get you through those tough times might be contributing to continued distress as they are no longer serving you like they did when you needed to survive.

Maybe it is your new found instinct to isolate, avoid, tear yourself down, or numb yourself out in order to try to protect yourself from pain and suffering.

Maybe you find yourself repeating patterns of suffering, but you aren’t sure how you got there or how to get out.

An introduction to more of my personal lens, the lived experiences and identities that have shaped me and informed my interaction with the world, and the world’s interactions with me: I grew up in poverty in very rural central Virginia unceeded Monocan land. Because of the nature of where I grew up I can still trip on the concepts of what makes a town, a city, or a county. I was born into a family that, like many, was not well resourced and passed trauma from generation to generation though it was not their intention. As such I am no contact with some member of said family and lean into my chosen family. For a decade in my 20’s I lived in Chicago, IL unceeded Myaamia and Peoria land. There I studied art, wobbled in the path of finding my own legs in the world, and through such exploration discover my need and then passion for mental health counseling. I have now lived in Portland, OR unceeded Chinook land since 2020, where I now grow my roots in community and my connection with nature. My queer and trans social transition has been slow and iterative. In childhood and adolescence I was taught implicitly and explicitly how it was bad to be queer. In my 20’s I journeyed through recognizing/naming this internalized belief system and deconstructing it. Not reaching this current iteration until 2023, who knows what’s next. In more recent years I have accepted and celebrated myself as a neurodivergent human, which has allowed a greater ease in my relationship to myself and others.

When not working or otherwise finding ways to help my larger community, I love hanging out with my chosen family and all of our collective dogs, fiber crafting, baking yummy things, and being outside. Currently also enjoying learning ASL at PCC, and recommend their community education offerings for those interested in learning something new! I live a slow lifestyle, much by my body and brain’s demand, and prefer a gentle hike and a cozy nest to the other draws of city life. A nice nap and a good snack are never overlooked in my house.