I grew up in a house steeped in therapy, spirituality, self-growth, and development. My parents did yoga when it was still weird and ate granola when it was something healthy only hippies ate. As a good, rebellious teenager, I rejected their woo-woo, mumbo-jumbo. And yet, the foundations for my path had been laid.
My own journey of psycho-spiritual growth and awakening started violently. I was caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing with friends in the mountains of Washington. I vividly remember calmly letting go of life, fully accepting and embracing death as wave after wave of frozen water crushed my body against a tree. The next thing I knew, I felt myself emerge from a deep dream-like space, still alive. Among other injuries, I had damaged my kidney and was bleeding out fast. I barely had a pulse by the time I arrived at the hospital.
This near-death experience opened up new ways of understanding myself and my experience of conscious existence. My process of trauma healing and integrating the experience is ongoing, as I continue to learn lessons and connect to explore the great mystery of life.
Following my accident, I began working as a nurse in the intensive care unit. Here my relationship with mortality, death, and grief deepened. My empathic nature made me an outstanding nurse, and I was even awarded The DAISY Award for nursing excellence. However, not knowing how to hold my energetic and emotional boundaries, I took on the trauma my patients and their families were experiencing.
I would end my night-shifts stooped over, head low with rounded shoulders, as if I were carrying a heavy backpack. I didn’t know about somatics at the time, but looking back, it was a crystal clear example of the interplay between mind and body. I was taking on a heavy emotional burden, and that was expressed through my posture. I became exhausted by carrying that load and depression began to creep in.
During this time, my wife and I faced an impossible decision. 20 weeks into our first pregnancy a scan showed that our unborn son Larsen had a brain malformation. We ended up terminating the pregnancy, leaving us devastated and heartbroken. I did not know how to grieve our loss.
A year later I began using opioids and sedatives to ease my emotional pain. For months I sunk deeper and deeper into addiction and depression. Fortunately I reached out to a therapist who guided me towards a path of recovery. I left my job and underwent addiction treatment.
Much of what I saw and experienced in the treatment world did not resonate with me. Dogmatic one-sized-fits-all frameworks that were centered around an “addict identity” and disease left me dissatisfied. I was convinced of the need for an individualized, holistic approach that focuses on growth, health and strength; an approach that treats addiction and recovery just as something to overcome and get through, as an opportunity for profound personal transformation.
I earned my Master’s in Public Health and focused my studies on harm-reduction, addiction, and drug user health. Upon graduating, I worked for a community-based mental health agency, helping to establish a low-barrier opioid addiction treatment program. I sat across from hundreds of clients, hearing of their struggles and pain, but also witnessing the incredible strength and resilience humans are capable of, regardless of the challenges and situations they have faced. My conviction in the transformational power of recovery was solidified.
Years of working in conventional medical settings and public health agencies left me feeling incomplete. I saw the potential of coaching as a way to offer highly personalized, strength-based support to people in their transformational journeys. I became certified in multiple coaching specialties including mind-body coaching, addiction recovery coaching and psychedelic integration. I also studied and became certified in Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®) and SourcePoint Therapy® energy work, both of which I utilize in my coaching practice.
My mission is to support people to reconnect with their bodies and themselves, so they can experience life more fully.
