I'm a Texas-born product of a former Marine Corps, liberal trans-woman and artist, and a relatively conservative former school teacher from El Paso, Texas. Of course, that is a gross underrepresentation of the full spectrum of both their personhoods, and they divorced when I was in grade school, but you get the picture. Just like you, I started out in this world steeped in my own family's cultures and belief systems as well as my community's social norms. As you might imagine, between Mom, Dad*, and society, beliefs, values, and expectations were all over the board.
I mention this because my history-- the early years all the way to this exact moment-- allow me to do some solid work to differentiate, define, and live according to my own values, which helps translate to the insight, compassion, and curiosity I bring to our sessions.
At this point in my life, I recognize that I carry the privilege of a thin, white, able-bodied, university educated, middle-class, straight-passing, cisgender woman in a heteronormative marriage and more, including the privilege of sitting in the therapist chair when working with clients and in the educator chair when hosting courses. Part of my job is to practice awareness and accountability for how my history and identities can show up or be perceived.
As an ally and an anti-racist, I recognize the continuous accountability, work, humility, and responsibility to unpack and unlearn colonialist ideology in service to all of us.
I'm also a mother, stepmother, daughter, sister, spouse, friend, gardener, cancer survivor, divorce recoverer, and (of course!) a fully licensed and experienced therapist who loves what she gets to do for a living. As Walt Whitman said, like all of us, "I contain multitudes." So, I understand that your experience is uniquely yours, and my foundation simply allows me the opportunity to hold space and support you while exploring, growing, and orienting to what's meaningful to you.
Alongside my years of experience and education, I bring myself, as a human, to our work together. While I am continuously reading, researching, and learning up to date information that gets applied in our sessions, I am not a textbook, or a psychoanalytical robot. Our relationship is a therapeutic tool in and of itself, and I invite candor, humor, and genuine connection.
* Not all trans families will keep familial titles like "Dad." Part of our story is that we did.
