I'm a clinical psychologist. I have been licensed since 2011. I specialize in evidence-based treatment for anxiety, OCD and related disorders, insomnia, health-related concerns, transitions, and complicated life things.

ACADEMIC TRAINING:

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Addiction, Behavioral Health, and Technology
University of Virginia Health System

Ph.D., Psychology, Clinical
Virginia Tech

M.S., Psychology
Virginia Tech

M.A., Health Education and Health Behavior
Columbia University

B.S., Psychology, Concentration in Health Promotion & Exercise Science
Appalachian State University

My work emphasizes helping people build lives larger than their anxiety by improving psychological and behavioral flexibility. When relevant, I also integrate healthy behaviors such as exercise, drawing on my training in exercise science, health promotion, and health education.

My professional background includes clinical research and I care deeply about providing treatment that is supported by psychological science without making therapy feel rigid or impersonal. I am a hawk for misinformation and troubled by the attack on public health and evidence-based healthcare. You can see a list of my peer reviewed academic publications and book contributions here.

Over the years, I have worked and studied in university centers, academic medical centers, outpatient clinics, research clinics, private practice, and a Veterans Affairs hospital. In fact, I worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia for seven years where I learned an appreciation for the sacrifices veterans and their families have made as well as the strength and importance of the mind-body connection. In that role, I also developed skills working within interdisciplinary teams with medical doctors, nurses, physical therapists, other therapists, and administrative staff. Prior to graduate school, and after college, I lived and worked in New York City as an assistant program director at an international advertising firm, a corporate recruiter, and doing my favorite combined gig- research assistant during the day and waitress at night. I worked my way through high school and college in all kinds of humbling jobs that I needed to keep to pay my way.

I have a proclivity for building small businesses in my field of psychology, including the one I am most proud of, Atlanta CBT. Atlanta CBT is a collective of independent therapists who help children, teens, and adults, a group practice. Atlanta CBT continues to be my professional home after I sold it to a colleague so it can be locally-owned and operated after I needed to move away from Atlanta.

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I do my best to stay current on innovations through my engagement in professional societies including:

The International OCD Foundation

The Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine

The American Psychological Association

The Georgia Psychological Association

The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science

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I believe therapy should stay focused on the client, but I understand some people want to know a little about the person they may work with. Shared experiences don’t guarantee shared understanding since we all make meaning of our lives differently- but for whatever it may be worth as you consider fit:

Outside of work, I’m a mom, longtime partner, friend, and part of a quirky family system. I am firmly in the “sandwich” era of life. I’m a New Englander by birth and culture, though I’ve lived in the South MUCH longer than the North. I have an active ADHD mind and I, personally, know anxiety well. I love the notion of “community'“, experiencing natural and built environments, old houses, and music. I try to find humor wherever I can. I also protect time to be a beginner—making art, playing tennis, traveling, and exploring rabbit holes of many, many kinds.

Movement is an essential part of my life and well-being. I lift weights, run, hike, bike, hike, and hope to keep snowboarding for as long as my body allows.