I’ve been fascinated with being human for as long as I can remember. Two of my earliest memories are of wondering, “How am I doing that?” while moving my fingers slowly and intentionally in front of my face; and also thinking, “What am I plugged into?” while staring at an electrical socket in the wall. My dad being an electrician might have had some influence on that one, but still....These grew into more questions….“Why do I feel the way I do?” “Why do people act the way we do?” “How is it that I just ‘know’ some things?” These were early markers of my lifelong curiosity for how people and things, in general, work. The connection between my body and my mind is my earliest conscious memory. The nature of that connection has always and continues to drive me, both personally and professionally.
More recent me: I am a total homebody when it comes to the way I live, but am most at home among trees, rivers and mountains. I am committed to social justice. I really like to build things. I enjoy fire, reading, walking and sitting in nature. I love music, singing and dancing. More than one vacation may or may not have been planned around visiting hot springs; being in nature and hot water recharges me in a special way. Connecting with people individually and in small groups fulfills me. I also find immense comfort in solitude. I enjoy cooking and feeding others. My family is the most important thing to me and a family snuggle is, hands down, my favorite part of every day. I love being a wife and mother and the caretaker of my family’s health. I am very straight-forward, fairly irreverent and have been described as ‘intense’ a time or two, but love to share a smile, a good laugh and even tears.
I also really love my job. It is my great fortune that my personal quest for knowledge has fed so satisfyingly into my professional life. Perhaps that is coincidence, but it feels like a little more than that, if I’m honest.
On this journey, I have had one of those defining “before and after” experiences you hear about.
Discovering the neuroscience and physiology of stress and trauma and experiencing the capacity my body has to regulate itself is ‘that one’ for me. I found clear answers to the questions that inspired my early thirst for understanding and so many more, some I didn’t even know I had. It has given me a profoundly deep and broad lens through which I view the human body and being.
I look forward to connecting with you and sharing what I’ve learned.
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