Philosophy of Therapy
I believe that my clients are the experts in their own lives. My role is to come alongside you with specialized training, a deep understanding of trauma and attachment, and compassionate curiosity. Together, we build a roadmap that balances safety, honesty, and forward movement.
You are always in charge of the pace. I integrate education, experiential work, and evidence-based treatment to encourage an action-oriented approach to change, while never losing sight of the tenderness of your story.
Professional Background
I am a psychologist with over 25 years of experience working with individuals and couples facing relationship trauma, betrayal, sexual addiction, complex PTSD, and long-standing attachment injuries. My professional foundation was in marriage and family therapy, and over time I have developed a specialty in intensive work with couples and partners navigating sexual betrayal and intimacy disorders.
My work has included outpatient therapy, intensive workshops and intensives, and supervision for other clinicians. I have extensive experience working with trauma in many forms—from betrayal trauma, to developmental and attachment trauma, to combat-related PTSD.
I am the founder and Executive Director of Intensive Recovery Healing, where we offer a structured, compassionate, and highly specialized pathway for those impacted by sex and pornography addiction and their partners.
I am also the co-author of multiple resources for therapeutic disclosure, including the Full Disclosure Workbook series, designed to help both partners and disclosers prepare for a safe, thorough, and healing disclosure process.
Training Path
The pain my clients bring to me is profound, so I put a great deal of time, effort, and investment in the training I believe is necessary for helping others heal. I consider knowledge and training an important investment in my skills as a professional. I'm proud that I have chosen wisely in the pockets of knowledge I've put a great deal of time and effort in pursuing. Sometimes I followed the training choices of the colleagues surrounding me; sometimes I've had to lead the pack.
I am the first Certified Sex Addiction Therapist and CSAT supervisor in McKinney, the first certified Sexual Recovery Therapist in Texas, the first professional to be certified as a Partner Recovery Therapist and Partner Betrayal Trauma Therapist, as well as the first to be certified as an Intimacy Anorexia Therapist, and first Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.
I am the founder and clinical director of McKinney Counseling & Recovery, Intensive Recovery Healing, and Intensive Recovery Coaching – the three sisters in the Intensive Hope family. I was a founding member and vice-president of the nonprofit Association for Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists (APSATS), the first organization dedicated to the needs of partners of sex addicts and creators of the Multidimensional Partner Trauma Model, a then radical change in recognizing and treating partner betrayal trauma. I continue to serve as a board member for APSATS and provide supervision consultation for Certified Clinical Partner Specialist candidates. I also utilize this model when working with those in recovery for sexual or pornography addiction and have found incorporating this partner sensitive approach crucial in helping both parties restore trust.
The discovery of intimacy anorexia was an absolute game changer – the missing piece in understanding how to conceptualize both sex addiction and betrayal trauma recovery. This field is in its infancy and, although a difficult relationship pattern to effect change, the quest to understand it has sparked my most recent training quest – unlocking the mysteries of attachment issues.
Somatic Experiencing, developed by Peter Levine, was a 3-year intensive training process that transformed my own nervous system in the process. I foolishly thought would end when my certification was achieved. What happened instead is I was awakened to limitless curiosity and the smorgasbord of advanced and master class trainings in pursuit of deepening my knowledge of trauma resolution, the nervous system, polyvagal inputs and the body. Additionally, I continue to assist at Somatic Experiencing trainings.
I have also trained with Dr. Brené Brown and have been a Certified Daring Way Facilitator™ since 2016. Brené's work on shame resilience and vulnerability, and much that I learned from Pia Mellody and Peter Levine, provides an important superstructure that all healing fits into.
