I first decided that I wanted to become a therapist at age 13. I grew up on a farm in the rural Midwest in a family impacted by chronic illness, and as a young person struggled with how to understand myself as a queer, trans, and nonbinary person. The loneliness of this experience in a sometimes-hostile environment encouraged me to become a "safe person" for others experiencing struggle and oppression. 

After completing my undergraduate degree, I was ready to connect with a larger queer/trans and politically radical community, and I found my way to Seattle. I continue to feel deep gratitude to the many organizers, activists, healers, and collective house members who shaped my understanding of the world and what it looks like to move toward liberation together during the 10+ years I lived in the Northwest. 

In 2021,  my nesting partner and I moved to a rural mountain town in northwestern Costa Rica, in pursuit of a job opportunity for my partner and with the hope to reconnect with the sense of closeness to land and small community that I experienced growing up rurally.  

The challenge of navigating the Costa Rican immigration system, even from a very privileged position as a white US citizen, has encouraged me toward solidarity work with other immigrants. In 2022, I became a volunteer asylum evaluator with Refugees Northwest, and joined a mutual aid group supporting migrants, mostly folks from South America and the Caribbean, who are seeking to cross the northern border of Costa Rica on foot on the way to the US.

As a highly sensitive person (HSP), down time is very important to me! For fun and self care, I like hiking slowly while looking at plants, hanging out with my kiddo, sitting in the sunshine reading queer speculative fiction, practicing my Spanish, working in the local community garden,  and trying to befriend our neighborhood toucans.

I recognize that all land is sacred and beloved Indigenous land. I grew up on traditionally Potawatomi land, and lived for more than a decade on unceded Coast Salish territory. I reside and work in close relationship to the traditional land of the Maleku Tribe and Huetar Tribe in what is now northeast Costa Rica. I honor with gratitude the land itself and the Maleku and Huetar Peoples, and I continue to learn about the Indigenous history and present context of the land where I am living. In action with this recognition, I make a monthly financial contribution to the Maleku Tribe, and seek to act in solidarity with Indigenous people in Costa Rica and elsewhere.

I credit the Duwamish Tribe and the Real Rent Duwamish project of the greater Seattle area with my introduction to 'paying rent' as a solidarity or reparation action with Indigenous peoples.