I was born and raised here in beautiful Colorado. When it came time to go to college, I went East, trying to get as far away from home as I could. I was on a mission to find myself and not have my identity clouded by being near family or anyone familiar. I attended Goucher College, just outside of Baltimore, MD, where I graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Sociology.

Shortly after I graduated, I decided it was time to come back to my roots. I wanted to face the struggles of my past, rather than run from them, and it was the best decision I ever made.  I spent several years working various jobs in the mental health field, never feeling like the degree I held at the time was getting me “close enough” to where I wanted to be.  I loved the “action” and wanted to be right in it.  As a result, I went on to pursue a graduate degree in community counseling and have been working as a therapist in private practice since 2012.  

Several years ago I decided to take a training on temperament.  While I went in somewhat skeptical and defensive of the notion that every person can be categorized, I was absolutely blown away by what I learned.  Everything resonated with me so deeply and helped me make sense of my life, my relationship, and the lives of my clients in such a different way.  As a result, I continued  pursuing certifications and more education in understanding temperament.  In October of 2019 I attended an advanced training on Emotional Intelligence at Harvard University.

The more I learned, the more I understood about why I behaved the way I did and why others did the same.  This understanding has enabled a huge shift around relationships and communication for me and those in my life (be they clients, friends, my spouse, or my children).  I am now able to shift the way in which I communicate to my audience and reach them in a way I never knew was possible.  After seeing how insanely helpful this approach has been with clients in my therapy practice, Look Inside Counseling, PLLC, I decided to take this knowledge and way of being with others one step further and share it with others both in professional organizations as well as parents.  Even though the audiences are different, the basic concepts remain the same:  not everyone has the same temperament, and as a result, not everyone should be approached in the same manner.  If we can learn to tweak our way of approaching others, and increase our own emotional intelligence, we can learn to create peaceful and harmonious relationships with those around us, and feel understood and respected while we are at it.