The Work That Shaped Me

the life that shaped the work.

A LIFE SPENT LISTENING CLOSELY

For more than twenty-five years, I have worked in the mental health field—from inpatient psychiatric care and community mental health to more than twenty years in private practice, both within group practices in the Kansas City area and in my solo practice in Lawrence. It has been a true privilege to listen closely as people share their lives, often inviting me into the places that feel most tender, complicated, or difficult to name.

My love of psychology began in a high school classroom. That early curiosity eventually led me to the University of Kansas, where I earned both my bachelor’s degree in psychology and my master’s degree in counseling psychology.

Over the years, my work has included psychotherapy with individuals, couples, families, and groups; specialization in eating-disorder treatment; clinical leadership; individual supervision and therapist consultation groups; and co-founding an intensive outpatient program. I have helped people navigate anxiety, depression, relationships, professional and personal transitions, identity, grief, and seasons of profound change.

The beauty of psychology, in my mind, is that it is always evolving. I have come to see therapeutic approaches less as separate methods and more as individual threads—each offering something valuable, and most meaningful when thoughtfully woven together as we tend to who you are and what you need now.

The Approach

I have always been curious about the inner lives of people—the experiences that shape us, the patterns we carry, and the ways we find our way through seasons of change.

Over time, that work has taught me that meaningful change rarely comes from applying one method in exactly the same way to every person. It begins with listening closely: to what has brought you here, what has helped before, what has not, and what you may be ready to explore now.

I have come to see therapeutic approaches less as separate methods and more as individual threads—each offering something valuable, and most meaningful when thoughtfully woven together as we tend to who you are and what you need now.

THE THREADS THAT BROUGHT ME HERE

My professional life has taken shape through years of clinical work, continued study, leadership, supervision, and the privilege of sitting with people through some of life’s most tender and defining seasons.

My personal life has shaped this work, too.

I am a mother of three and a widow. I understand, both personally and professionally, how life can change the shape of who we are—and how disorienting it can feel to find ourselves standing between the life we once knew and the one that is still becoming.

These experiences have deepened my belief that healing is not about returning to who we were before. It is about learning to inhabit our lives as they are now, while making room for what may still be possible.

WHERE PEOPLE, STORIES, AND SPACES MEET

Alongside my clinical work, I have long been drawn to interiors, architecture, and the quiet language of home. I have pursued studies in interior design while at the University of Kansas, as well as , but my relationship with design began long before any formal coursework.

I notice how a room feels, what its objects reveal, and how our surroundings can either support us or leave us feeling subtly unsettled. Homes hold our histories, identities, relationships, routines, and transitions. Sometimes a space that once fit beautifully no longer reflects the life being lived within it.

Woven Willow grew from my desire to bring these parts of my experience together: clinical insight, lived experience, and a deep sensitivity to the spaces that hold our everyday lives.

Although the doorways into this work may look different, the heart of it remains the same: listening closely, noticing what no longer fits, and thoughtfully tending to what is ready to take shape.

A LOVE OF HOME, INHERITED

My love of homes began long before I studied interior design. My father had a natural skill for building and remodeling houses, while my mother loved restoring old homes. My grandmother was a realtor, and accompanying her to see new listings was one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon.

Through them, I learned to notice the possibilities within a space: the history held in its walls, the details that gave it character, and the ways a home could be thoughtfully reimagined without losing the story that made it meaningful.

I later deepened that lifelong interest through interior-design coursework at the University of Kansas and El Centro College in Dallas, now part of Dallas College. Although my professional path ultimately led me into psychology, my love of interiors never left. It continued quietly alongside my clinical work, shaping how I understand the relationship between our inner lives and the spaces that hold them.

BEYOND THE WORK

Outside of my professional work, I am a mother of three and someone who has always been drawn to the stories held within people, places, and the objects we choose to keep.

I feel most at home among well-loved books, rooms with history, cottage gardens, meaningful conversation, and the small rituals that make an ordinary day feel beautiful. I love [TRAVEL / GARDENING / ANTIQUES / PILATES / DESIGN / OTHER GENUINE INTERESTS], and I am endlessly interested in the ways our lives continue to evolve—often in directions we could not have anticipated.

Woven Willow is the place where these threads meet: the personal and the professional, the art and the science, who we have been and who we are still becoming.