A little about my philosophy

It has been said that a good therapist is much more a gardener than a mechanic. I love this statement because it captures something too often missed by counselors and clients alike: We therapists are here not to repair something broken about you but to help you gently prune away the old parts of yourself that no longer serve your growth. Within you already is an innate capacity to heal and stretch upward if given safety, compassion, and, where invited, guidance to grow. Feel the difference? Beyond just giving you tools to change, my job is to awaken the essential part of you that already knows how. Without bringing this part of you alive, no amount of banging away on “what’s wrong with you” — on either of our parts — will help you live the life you’re here for.

A little about my approach

With an approach that includes metaphor, paradox, and even humor, I help you to reclaim your capacity for change on many levels. The foundation is a sanctuary and relationship without pressure or judgment, whatever your background or history. Added to this are powerful techniques, information, skills, and perspective, many of which are detailed in the Services section.

The deepest work of all, however, might be thought of as a lovely reintroduction of sorts: a new understanding and reconnection to aspects of you recently taken from you if not long ago exiled. These aspects might include your strengths, feelings, and intuition; your old family scripts buried deep in your psyche; even your connection with body and Spirit – that you might awaken that organic process within and bloom again.

Central to this work is a notion, as one of my earliest mentors put it, that we either have our feelings or they have us. It is the paradoxical philosophy of joining our experience exactly as it is in order to transform it. You’ll hear more about that in the g.r.a.c.e. sequence section of this website, but it’s infused throughout my practice. And though it’s something that takes some time and support to learn, the inherent truth of its basis and power is nothing short of your birthright.

A little about training and work history

I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Nashville TN as well as a certified Practitioner of Medical Qigong. My doctoral coursework took place at the exceptional Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) program at Nova Southeastern University, a health sciences program in Fort Lauderdale, and Clinical Internship (a bit like medical residency) at Vanderbilt University.

In 2005 I cofounded the Lotus Center in Nashville TN, a holistic health center where I see adult individuals and groups to this day in person or via telemedicine. I have been deeply influenced by my colleagues of nearly 20 years — masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine, EEG Neurofeedback, Tai Chi, Integrative Family Medicine, and CranioSacral Therapy, among others — who have helped me to see the Self as far more than either a Psyche or a Soul. We are indeed multi-layered beings of both magnificent complexity and elegant simplicity. Together with training in Medical Qigong, this influence has led me to an approach I think of as Integrative Clinical Psychology — not for anything I have subtracted, but for the significant knowledge and perspective this experience has added.

The unusual blend of somatic, psychological, and spiritual influences has led to innovations like the the g.r.a.c.e sequence, which I have taught at the One-River Wisdom School in Sewanee TN as well as on national podcasts, in local and online workshops, and to colleagues at the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute, among other places. I also work with a system I have developed I call Inter-Subjective Somatic Attunement (ISSA) that brings together some of the best energetic bodywork with trauma techniques in ways that greatly accelerate the release of trapped emotional material.

I am currently writing a book about the g.r.a.c.e. sequence and have previously published work regarding the synthesis of intuitive and analytic thinking as well as innovative approaches to resolving childhood sexual abuse.

For three years I sat on the Board of the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute where I went on to serve as Board Chair, as well.

A little about me

As an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, I couldn’t make up my mind between Psychology and Religious Studies, so I majored in both. Not much has changed in 30 years! I still regularly combine my traditional graduate work with training in EMDR, Brainspotting, NLP, Hypnosis, Modern Analytic Group Psychotherapy, and much more. But quietly interwoven are always the principles and techniques of the ancient wisdom traditions.

When not working, learning, parenting, and/or playing (for these are not mutually exclusive), I thoroughly enjoy T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Kung Fu, Qigong, and other forms of ancient wisdom put into physical motion or seated practice. Raised in a Christian family, I learned meditation when I was 19 and it opened the doors to seeing beauty in many different forms of reverence for the divine. The integration of these with deep respect for all of them has most certainly changed my life and helped me change many.

Musicianship, a love of the outdoors, and a happy family round out a very blessed life.

If you have a sense we're meant to work together, I would very much like to hear from you.