You might like to know a bit about my background and how I came to be a counselor. I'm one of those folks who knew what I'd be doing for a career before I graduated from high school. Well almost. I did  briefly consider becoming a lawyer or minister during my first year of college. But counseling always had the inside track, even though I'd never actually had any experience with counseling as a child and no one in my family was remotely involved with the field. So, I suppose becoming a counselor was mostly a natural extension of my basic temperament and my interest in people, which had been with me since childhood.

I had my first formal experience with counseling in my early twenties when I became a volunteer counselor at a clinic helping teens who had been arrested for minor crimes. I volunteered several hours each week during my last 2 years of college as I completed my Bachelors of Psychology. I stayed on with them after I graduated and became a trainer for new volunteers. And so began my career in counseling.

I next spent several years working at various human service agencies and programs in both the public and private sectors. After 10 years I began working on Master degree in Counseling, which I completed in 1986. I then spent 8 years working at a local Community Mental Health Center in Hendersonville, NC before opening my private practice in 1994 to provide counseling in Asheville. Over the past 15 years my practice has evolved and allowed me opportunities for using my skills in a variety of ways. While personal counseling remains the foundation of the practice, I am now at a time in my career where I also enjoy using my experience to offer additional services, including public speaking, trainings, workshops, community advocacy, and small business consultations focusing on the benefits gained by addressing the "human dynamics" of the business.