I’m not the kind of counselor who learned about addiction from a textbook and stopped there. I learned it from living it. Before I held a degree, before I earned my CSAC credential, before I built this practice, I was the person on the other side of the conversation: struggling with addiction, surviving overdose, and fighting my way back to a life I did not think was possible. My story is mine, and yours is yours.
That lived experience is the foundation everything else is built on. When you sit with me in a virtual session and tell me something you have never told anyone, I won’t flinch and I won’t judge. I listen first, and I meet you as a person, not a case. I get it, not because I read about it, but because I have been where you are.
But lived experience alone does not make a great counselor. What I bring is the combination of personal understanding of addiction with professional training and experience in the field.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Substance Abuse and Addiction Counseling from Ottawa University, and I’m a Wisconsin Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC). I’ve worked as a substance use counselor at the Family Health Center of Marshfield and at Koinonia, a residential treatment center in Rhinelander. I’m currently pursuing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.
First-responder experience in rural northern Wisconsin
Wisconsin Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor
Substance Abuse & Addiction counseling, Ottawa University
Trained in non-clinical peer recovery coaching
In my recovery coaching and substance use counseling, I draw on CBT tools and ACT principles. But in plain language: I meet people where they are, I don’t pretend to have all the answers, and I believe any forward movement counts, even if it is a millimeter.
I offer substance use counseling as a Wisconsin CSAC, plus non-clinical family coaching and recovery coaching. Because of state rules, counseling is available only to clients who are physically in Wisconsin during the session. Coaching may be available in other states; ask me during your free consultation.
I’m the author of four books that reflect my commitment to making recovery accessible, honest, and human.
Her personal narrative of addiction, survival, and recovery. It is an unflinching, deeply honest account of what it actually looks like to come back from the worst moments of your life and build something meaningful on the other side. It is not a sanitized recovery story. It is the real thing.
Tools, Truths and Tiny Steps to Start Your Healing Journey. A practical, interactive guide for people working through codependent patterns. It provides exercises, prompts, and frameworks for building boundaries, practicing self-awareness, and celebrating incremental progress.
I built Progress Is Progress because I saw firsthand how the traditional system can fail people: clinicians burning out, clients falling through the cracks, and the fear of documentation keeping good people from getting help.
I created a practice where I explain how your information is handled, where the counselor understands what addiction feels like from the inside, and where progress is measured in ways that matter to you.
Please don’t include personal health details in this form. If you’re in crisis, call or text 988.
