Art therapist, instructor, researcher, creative, advocate, scholar, and author. Currently a doctoral student in social work at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Obsessed with active learning, cute glasses, experiential therapy, stripey socks, creative problem-solving, dogs, and making mistakes in public.

Read my updated Curriculum Vitae (CV).

View my faculty profile at the University of Utah.

Official ORCID, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar profiles.

I come to academia after nearly 25 years of work as a board-certified art therapist (ATR-BC), licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), and graduate-level clinical instructor. My career has seen dozens of clinical trends come and go, theoretical show-stoppers that never meet up to their progress, and

I’ve taught, supervised, employed, trained, and lifted up hundreds of creative therapists in my career. I’ve served on professional

I grew up in the western US as the second of seven children. My family is made up of teachers and accountants, many of whom have strong creative streaks, and they introduced me to the power of creative living in a conservative world.

In 1998, I moved to Boston for a family literacy internship, where I discovered both the isolating pain of clinical depression and the healing power of art-making — specifically, throwing pottery on the wheel. More on that later.

I don’t remember the first time I heard the term “art therapy,” but I do remember the first time I googled it — from a college computer in 1999. After that, I oriented my whole life toward becoming an art therapist and using creative methods in mental health treatment.

Ultimately, there was no escaping my genetic destiny of classrooms and spreadsheets. Thanks to the generosity of the academic community and the support of my family, I’ll live out the rest of my days as an art therapist, teacher, and researcher.

More coming.