From the beginning MHP leadership has invested and supported peer support long before a state certification existed, providing opportunities for clients to become mental health professionals. Recovery is a unique path that one chooses to travel upon, I am grateful that journey began here as a client and now I am able to support my community and the state of Colorado and do much more than “give back”. It is an honor to work beside such passionate and dedicated people and clients, who inspire me daily.   

Prior to joining MHP’s training team, I served as a clinician on MHP’s crisis team for 8 years. At this point in my career, I feel training is a way to help more people than I could help as a clinician working with one individual at a time. For me, it’s also an avenue of personal growth. Any experienced teacher or trainer knows your students can teach you as much or more than you teach them. If you go in to each class being open to a dialogue with the participants, you’ll learn! I especially presenting ASIST because of its emphasis on storytelling and deep listening. I think a lot of people instinctively understand the power of engaged, compassionate listening, and they understand how transformative and healing it can be when we get to tell our story to someone who really hears us and doesn’t feel compelled to jump in and try to “fix” our problem right away or tell us what to do. In my free time, you can find me meditating, reading, travel, hanging out with friends, playing with my dog, cooking, and playing against the chess app on my phone (kind of addictive even though I lose most of the time!)