My Story

While an awkward teenager growing up in Pittsburgh, my story began. Feeling alone and out of place, fate plucked me out of a class of 1200 students to join with 5 others in forming a life changing group appropriately called “The Awareness Group.”

This group was led by two counselors who had attended a summer training at U Mass led by the famous Carl Rogers and Fritz Perls. It was in that group that I made the decision to one day become a therapist and pass on the invaluable skills I was learning to everyone I could reach.

At a very young age I saw for myself how identifying common cognitive distortions could spare me from unnecessary suffering.  I learned that everything is a choice. Nobody could make me do anything. Self-awareness was the key to navigating difficult situations and understanding my own mind.

These trainings cultivated within me a deep understanding and compassion for others. I knew that if people learned what I now call life mastery skills while cultivating self-awareness, they would be happier, and the world would be a better place.

After high school between my first and second quarters at the University of Utah, I applied and was accepted to a program called, “University Year for Action,” which was a division of Vista/Peace Corp. I was assigned to work at Granite Alternative School, where I led many Awareness Groups while helping students graduate from high school.

In 1999, I was accepted into the University of Utah’s Graduate School of Social Work where I earned my master’s degree. I passed the licensure test and have been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2001.

My first job as a therapist was at Valley Mental Health. I loved working in Community Mental Health with a team of professionals dedicated to the well being of individuals suffering from chronic mental illness. At Valley Mental Health, I was trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and then was asked, along with a colleague, to lead the training of all the therapists at our agency. Because mindfulness is a core skill in DBT, I began teaching mindfulness in trainings, group therapy, and individual therapy.

My dream since those early days in high school was to — one day — have a private practice. So, after five years of intensive training from the most amazing mentors in the world, I left community mental health and opened the private practice where I am to this day.

In private practice, I am able (for the most part) to leave the medical model of disease and pathology behind, and work with people as complex human beings. Having faith in everyone’s ability to heal, I take a strengths-based approach, supporting my clients in cultivating self-awareness and resilience. It is clear that self-awareness is essential to healing. Without it a person is blinded to their healing process and is left without a roadmap to navigate future problems. 

I am a certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher, having completed a two-year in-depth training program, led by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, through the Awareness Training Institute and the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley. I am also a member of the International Mindfulness Teacher Association.

Ron Seigle, PhD says, “Mindfulness is the technology we use to see how our minds disturb us.” I say, “Mindfulness is the key to Self-Literacy, which allows for insight, choice and wise action.”