Hello...

I am the founder of Heartstone Guidance Center and a licensed clinical therapist with 20 years of experience. I am also autistic, a longtime student of human behavior, and someone who believes therapy should be intelligent, compassionate, neurodiversity-affirming and authentic. 

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My presence as a therapist is warm, grounded, curious, and direct. I draw from mindfulness and Buddhist philosophy, but I am not passive or detached. I am an active and engaged therapist. I ask thoughtful questions, notice patterns, share what I am seeing, teach practical skills, and help connect the dots between your nervous system, your experiences, your relationships, and the larger world around you. I will sit with you in difficult places, but I will not leave you there alone while quietly nodding for fifty minutes.

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I believe people heal best when they are deeply understood, not managed, over-therapized, corrected, or trained to become more acceptable to others.

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Neurodivergence, Identity, and Belonging

I am a neurodiversity-affirming therapist who works from the neurodiversity paradigm: autism, PDA, AuDHD, ADHD, and other forms of neurodivergence are naturally occurring variations in human neurology, not defective versions of “normal.” Neurodivergent people may experience very real disabilities and need meaningful support, but we also possess valuable ways of perceiving, thinking, creating, connecting, and moving through the world.

I have extensive experience supporting neurodivergent children, teens, adults, couples, and families. I help people understand and embrace their neurodivergent identities, recognize their strengths and support needs, and make sense of the ways masking, discrimination, chronic misunderstanding, and inaccessible environments have affected their lives.

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Many neurodivergent people have spent years being told that they are too sensitive, too intense, too quiet, too emotional, too rigid, too scattered, too much—or somehow never enough. Over time, we may learn to mask, over-accommodate others, mistrust our perceptions, ignore our bodies, and sacrifice our needs to maintain relationships or survive environments that were never designed for us.

Therapy can become a place to begin undoing that.

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I will not teach you to become more palatable. I will help you understand yourself, care for your nervous system, establish healthier boundaries, communicate your needs, and build a life that does not require you to disappear inside it.

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Trauma, Burnout, and Nervous-System Healing

Throughout my career, I have met very few neurodivergent people who have not experienced some degree of trauma. Sometimes that trauma comes from identifiable events. Sometimes it develops through years of bullying, rejection, sensory overwhelm, coercion, exclusion, medical or educational mistreatment, chronic invalidation, or being required to perform a version of oneself that feels acceptable to everyone else.

I specialize in helping people recover from trauma, chronic stress, and autistic or neurodivergent burnout. We may work on understanding your nervous system, recognizing the conditions that overwhelm it, rebuilding a sense of safety, and developing sustainable ways of living that honor your actual capacities.

 

The goal is not simply to make you more efficient at enduring what hurts you. We will also examine whether the expectations, environments, relationships, and systems surrounding you need to change.

 

When appropriate, I can help clients and families understand their rights and advocate for accommodations in schools, workplaces, and other settings. I am a former school social worker and bring substantial experience navigating educational systems, disability needs, and the real-world application of accommodations.

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My Approach to Therapy​

I am trained in EMDR, Internal Family Systems-informed therapy, traditional psychotherapy, trauma-informed CBT and DBT, mindfulness and Buddhist meditation, somatic approaches, narrative therapy, and strengths-based, person-centered, feminist, and social-justice-oriented therapy.

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That is a long list, but the important part is this: I do not believe in one-size-fits-all therapy.

We will draw from the approaches that make sense for your mind, body, identity, goals, and lived experience. I do not expect neurodivergent clients to adapt themselves to therapy methods designed without them in mind. Therapy should adapt to the person.

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My work is collaborative, but it is not directionless. I will respect your autonomy and your chosen life path while also being willing to gently challenge patterns that are harming you. Compassion and accountability can coexist. So can serenity and righteous anger. Sometimes healing means learning to regulate your nervous system. Sometimes it means recognizing that your nervous system has been objecting to something unacceptable.

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In addition to neurodivergence and trauma, I have experience supporting LGBTQIA2S+ clients, people experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and individuals navigating complex questions of identity, relationships, family, disability, and belonging. I also occasionally provide couples therapy and family consultations to help people better understand and accommodate one another’s neurodivergence.