Mental Health Therapist & Writer

From journalist to therapist, the story is the through line.

I worked for more than 20+ years in journalism and communications. This time included serving as Deputy Editor for Southern Living Magazine, working at an academic medical center, and in advertising and tech.

During the height of the pandemic, as I looked ahead at the second half of my life, I knew there was something more than endless Zoom meetings and algorithms, which is what working in media and media-adjacent fields had become.

So I hit send on the application for grad school, responding to a nudge I felt since I started my career as a medical writer.

When I started on the long journey to become a therapist, people were starting to talk more openly about mental health. I thought, “I don’t just want to interview clinicians. I want to become one.” So I did*.

Journalists and therapists have much in common (we’re good at asking the right questions, distilling complicated information, and honoring the complexity of the human experience.) There are also huge differences, and I’m adept at wearing many hats.

Today, I work as an Associate Licensed Therapist in the State of Alabama. (You can read more about that work on my bio page.)

As a freelance writer and consultant, I work with mission-driven organizations that value my expertise and background.

(*To become a licensed professional counselor in my state, one must get a Master’s Degree, pass two comprehensive exams, complete a 600-hour internship, then another 3,000 hours of work. I've done all but the 3,000 hours I am working on for the next few years. My clinical work is separate from my consulting and freelance content creation.)

Areas of Experience

• Grief & Bereavement

• Life Transition

• Career Change

• Addiction and Recovery  

• Caregiving 

• Serious Illnesses, including cancer and dementia