I am many things: wife to one steady man for 20+ years, mother to two highly energetic boys, friend to many wonderful people, sister to eight biological siblings! Oh, and I can’t leave out that I grew up in North Carolina and have now lived in Seattle, WA for over 15 years making me some strange merger of Southern hospitality, “Yes’m,” and the I’ll do whatever the fuck I want thank you very much spirit of the Pacific Northwest.

But my treasured role as a mental health therapist is what plunged me deep into the complicated and beautiful ways that humans relate. As a former teacher of literature and history, I also think through the lens of art and story. I have learned a very important life lesson in my years of receiving and giving therapy, and it is this: our mental health largely rests upon the converging forces of relationships, the past and our ability to creatively, honestly and persistently engage both.

It seems everywhere I go I have a knack for encountering people’s mental health. I’ll talk to just about anyone and am in general, fascinated with how humans relate to themselves and their world. So I thought, why not write about my encounters- from the articles I read, the stories I hear, to the people I observe on a daily basis. I hope you find my writing engaging enough to inspire an encounter with your own mental health and the mental health of those you know and even don’t know!