From a young age, I was an intuitive, HSP helper at heart. Borne out of my own background of being a child of a long line of Irish-Catholic alcoholics, it was my duty to be of service. I began working in groups in high school, hosting contemplative prayer offerings in my living room for teens who also had questions and wonderings along the spiritual journey. I am indebted in my journey to the priests in my childhood who were post-Vatican 2, fantastically intelligent and deeply humble. I felt safe in this community of faith, hosted as a place for exploration that fueled my curiosity and desire for social justice.

I knew at a young age that Presence--in whatever form that may be--was the tool for inner transformation.
 
Later I served churches through the years, both in official and unofficial positions of leadership, and quickly learned about how church environments instead of the sanctuary of exploration that I knew growing up were instead reflections of our family and cultural dynamics, often presenting the trauma and complex challenges that these provide. 

During this time I grew into my career in the very secular world of mental health and psychotherapy, working in agencies, hospitals, community centers. Trauma was front and center. Systemic and burnout was the norm. From the first day out of training, in inner city Philadelphia, I found the challenge and art of bearing witness was indeed a sacred honor. 

It's been a privilege of a lifetime to be a holder of sacred story.

In the church environments I continued to see gaps in how women in ministry and spiritual seekers (especially those on the margins, such as black folx in whyt spaces and LGBTQIA+ folx) are treated. I saw harm being done and had to step away multiple times from the spiritual communities that were far from trauma informed and safe spaces for me and for others.

Patterns persisted when they weren't examined--personally, and collectively.

Without safe spiritual community, my own spiritual journey then took winding turns, especially after significant birth traumas and traumatic grief when my brother in law died in a horrific car accident. I was without a community to hold us and mirror our grief during this time. That disconnection was a potent pain. 

These losses and traumas changed who I was, the fabric of what I thought I was in the world. 

I knew my healing had to be embodied, relational, and connected to my roots. Partly this was due to my personality, and partly the upbringing in those stubborn, progressive Irish-Catholic background. Justice mattered to me, and is the core of who I am in what I do in my work and vocation. My own dark nights ran up against this stubbornness to keep me solidly upon the path, to get therapy and spiritual direction, and to know that recovery is a lifelong privilege.

Spiritual Growth Borne Out of Trauma

Around 2016-17, through support with a skilled shamanic practitioner and spiritual director, I reclaimed my Celtic roots in mystery and the mystics. I've been personally dedicated to creation spirituality, specifically earth-based wisdom keepers of the Christian tradition, specifically to Hildegard of Bingen, and also Meister Ekhart, Mechtild of Magdeberg, and Julian of Norwich. I have been taught by them about panentheism--that all things are in God/Source, and God/Source is in all things.

The Black Madonna called to me during this time, teaching me about deep, abiding compassion, sacred fierceness, and overt dismissal of human-centered duality of pain and healing. Working with her shook my foundations and I've never been the same since. I owe my being in the world in significant part to her.

This ignited a fire in me
to serve other women and non-binary folx who also yearn for inner growth and sustenance.  
 
In 2019, I opened Root Grow Thrive as a sister practice to my psychotherapy practice with the mission to provide soul support and depth work opportunities for folks committed to the journey of self-discovery and healing from trauma and burnout. In 2020, I graduated from the Haden Institute in Spiritual Direction, trained in the Jungian mystical tradition. I moved into this vocation knowing my lifelong call to service provides a container to hold space for others to connect to their Self and Source.

Because of their support and this development of my spirituality, and in concert to my own training in Jungian psychology, it's given me wings to explore metaphysical traditions such as herbalism, evolutionary astrology, and non-ordinary states of consciousness such as dreamwork, journeying, and the ever-growing clinical field of psychedelic-assisted healings.

Inner Compass Work 

Helping the helper is at the core of what I do, and because of this, I know that my own inner compass must be front and center. I work regularly with archetypes both in my spiritual and personal practice such as the wounded healer and saviour/helper. Inner work is necessary if we who support others are committed to ethical practice and personal and professional integrity. I seek my own therapy and spiritual direction to maintain focus on my own wellness--mind, body and spirit.

Within the past few years since the catastrophic pandemic, my own professional interests are focused on the traumas that have brought us to these moments in our lives that can be transformative, but also extremely scary--and without support, can cause serious pathology. Addiction, depression, anxiety, panic is indeed ubiquitous in our society, and building every year, especially for those in heart-centered healing and spiritual care such as therapists, ministers, and caregiving professionals.

My work is dedicated to them.



Professional Work:

Trauma and Spirituality, Presenter, Haden Dream and Spirituality Conference, May 2023

Trauma and Wellness, Faculty, Spiritual Directors International, Jan-March 2023

Resiliency in Spiritual Companionships, Faculty, Spiritual Directors International, Fall 2021

Burnout and the Resilient Spirit, Retreat Keynote, Stillpoint Retreat Center, Las Vegas, April 2022

Stress Less, Thrive More Burnout Workshop, Presenter, Lower Susquehanna Synod, Spring 2021

Clergy Care Through Nourishing Practices, Keynote, National Annual Meeting, UCC, Dec 2020

Burnout, Trauma and Spiritual Care, contributor, podcasts and blogs, various, 2020-current

Trainings and Experience:

Certified Spiritual Director, Haden Institute 2020

Member, Spiritual Directors International

Group Facilitator and Group Leader

Trained in Parker Palmer's Circle of Trust Touchstones

Centering Prayer Practitioner

Creative Embodiment Practitioner (Mandala painting, Body Prayer, Artist's Way, Poetry for Presence, Praying with Icons and Imagery, Sacred Collage)

Mindfulness Practitioner (Trained in and have taught and practiced Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Mindful Parenting and Mindful Eating since 2007)

Dreamwork Practitioner(trained and decades of practice in Jungian-projective method of dreamwork)

Enneagram Practitioner and member of Enneagram Institute 

Owner and creator of The Sacred Deep, curating creative worship resources for connection to Spirit.

Clinical Psychotherapist, Licensed Professional Counselor in state of PA since 2005, Group Psychotherapist and owner of Rooted Growth Counseling (est 2018).