My journey towards counseling most clearly began while working at Buddhist meditation retreats where I was able to witness the power of awareness, exploration, and relational experimentation to transform struggles into strengths. I ground my practice in compassionate curiosity, a Buddhist understanding of suffering, imaginal exploration, a poetic sensibility, meditative awareness, and a psychodynamic perspective that meaningfully examines the unconscious and how the past manifests itself in the present.

My work is woven around the perspective that most suffering can be traced back to feeling stuck in our ways of relating, finding that no matter who or what we’re relating to, we feel anxious, depressed, unheard, or unloved. At these moments, it can be helpful to pause and observe how our relationships and/or general patterns of relating are constraining or frustrating our lives in some way. My practice endeavors to cultivate a space in which such reflective transformation can occur. Through the therapeutic relationship, I hope that you can learn to compassionately observe patterns of relating and creatively rework, transform, or accept them to better you with your values and goals.

I earned my bachelor’s degree in English literature from Sewanee: The University of the South and my Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling from Lenoir-Rhyne University. I continue to learn from my experiences as a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a friend, a Buddhist practitioner, and a reflective ear for my clients. I receive ongoing Modern Psychoanalytic supervision from Lara Doerrer, LCMHCS.