I recognized my love for connecting with and trying to help people early on in life and became truly aware of and started researching the counseling profession as a senior in high school. I graduated Smith County High School in 2004 before attending Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology in 2008 and obtained my first mental health job working as a resident counselor in a group home for teenage males aged approximately 11-14. After some time, I transitioned to an Intensive In-Home Counseling position, going into homes where the child-parent dynamic had become disrupted, sometimes severely. It was during this time that I was accepted into my master's program for Professional Mental Health Counseling at MTSU. While working towards my Master's Degree, I worked as an intern therapist and part-time resident counselor for another residential treatment center for adolescent males with behavioral concerns. Once I earned my Master of Education for Professional Mental Health Counseling in 2014, I began working as a therapist full-time at this residential treatment center.
    Some years later, I began working in a private practice setting combining mental health counseling and psychological testing, later transitioning to a community mental health/foster care agency providing outpatient therapy to a wide variety of people. I obtained my TN professional counseling license (Licensed Professional Counselor with Mental Health Service Provider Designation, or LPC-MHSP) in February 2020. Once licensed, I became a Clinical Consultant for the same community mental health/foster care organization, which continues to this day. Finally, I achieved a long-time, primary goal of counseling in a private practice setting in the Spring of 2021, starting in Murfreesboro, then adding the Carthage location in the Fall of 2022. 
     Throughout this journey, there were many trials and tribulations, most of which I could not have overcome without the aid and support of some prominent individuals. Humbled, and though I was always intrinsically motivated and passionate about helping others, I found myself with a newfound motivation and sense of responsibility to help others who may have found themselves in a similarly dark, frightening, and hopeless place as I had been. I believe whole heartedly in this work, our ability to change and overcome our struggles, and the unfathomable overall improvement our lives can take.