About Us

The professional stuff: 

In 2002, I earned my Bachelors in Music and English education from the University of Western Ontario, Canada and began my career as a music, English, and ESL teacher in public, charter, and international schools in Canada and Europe.    

After several years in the field of education, I decided to turn my focus to human services and earned my Masters in Social Work from State University of New York, Binghamton. I began this career shift by providing therapeutic services in an outpatient clinic in Ithaca, NY. In that role, in addition to seeing adults and adolescents, I specialized in the Zero-Five Project (services to children under the age of five).    

In 2013, I relocated to Salt Lake City and began working in a residential substance use disorder treatment program for women. My role as Children’s Services Coordinator provided many valuable training opportunities, including a two-year learning initiative with The Children’s Center on trauma-informed care. I applied this learning to my work providing family therapy and reunification services for mothers in the program and their young children. My music training became a resource as I used it in my direction of the choir for the women in the program to provide a sense of community and empowerment.   

I launched Dragonfly Family Therapy in 2016 and have specialized in attachment and trauma issues for the full age span. 

The personal stuff:

There have been many junctures in my life where I have benefited from the right guide at the right time. I wish I could say that I always accepted them readily, but the truth is that it has sometimes taken major wake up calls for me to listen. I mean, it took me getting shingles in my early thirties before I realized that maybe I should seek some help with all my stress. Seriously. 

With this being said, I really get the hesitancy to do the deeper work. It can be painful, and challenging, and just not feel good. And, it can unlock patterns, and wisdom, and so much relief. My personal guides have helped me through a divorce, the caregiving of a dying sister, the parenting of a grieving toddler, two pregnancy losses, and caring for aging parents (to name a few of my past hurdles). And that work I did (and continue to do) helps me in my current marriage, with the parenting of my young children, and the continued parenting of that grieving child (now an adolescent).

These guides have taken many forms - from therapists, to art teachers, to long-term friends, and even one-time encounters while far away from home.  

Having lived in three different countries, and travelled to several more, I have had the privilege to work with families from a wide range of cultures, countries of origin, household incomes, and abilities. I work from a strength-based perspective to help clients tap into their own potential for growth and greatness. I admire your courage to seek professional guidance to enhance your life and the quality of yours and your child’s relationships, and hope that I can be one of your guides along your journey.