Why I Do This Work

For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to the questions beneath the questions. Why do human beings suffer? Why do some ways of being become accepted as “normal” while others are marginalized, pathologized or erased? What does it actually mean to heal?

Those questions led me in many different directions.

They led me to complete a PhD, become a psychotherapist, supervise other therapists, study trauma and attachment, receive animist and shamanic teachings, confront my own internalized white supremacy, and spend decades exploring spirituality, psychology and the structures that shape human consciousness.

For much of that journey, however, there was one question I could not answer. Why, despite everything I had learned, did I still feel fundamentally broken? At fifty, in the midst of severe burnout, I discovered that I am autistic and ADHD.

My diagnosis did not begin my search. It brought decades of searching into coherence. Suddenly, my personal experience, my clinical work, my academic scholarship, my spiritual practice and my growing understanding of systems of power all began speaking the same language.

I realized that many of the assumptions we inherit about normalcy, mental health and healing are not objective truths; they are cultural stories.

Today my work lives at the intersection of neurodivergence, psychology, spirituality, decolonization and collective liberation. I don’t believe healing is simply about helping individuals adapt to the world as it is.

I believe it is about reclaiming the parts of ourselves that dominant culture has taught us to distrust—and allowing that reclamation to reshape the way we live together.

My work is informed by scholarship, clinical practice, lived experience, spiritual practice, and decades of inquiry into the conditions that allow human beings to transform and flourish

Credentials

• PhD, English Literature, University of Toronto
• Former Registered Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor (13 years)
• Founder, Neurodivergent Rising
• Advanced training in multiple therapeutic modalities including AEDP, IFS and EFT
• Participant clinician in international research study
• Certified Forest Therapy Guide
• Recipient of 7 Chacaruna Rites from Soaring Eagle, Medicine Woman
• Continuing Education provider for mental health professionals

Want to learn more?

Check out my media page and course offerings below or send me an inquiry to discuss an event booking.