I grew up in a Methodist family on a farm in western Iowa, attended Christian colleges and graduated from University of Northern Iowa. My first career was teaching home economics and art in the Christian Reform High School in Pella, Iowa. While traveling in Europe I met Youth With A Mission (YWAM), preparing for the Munich Olympics and experienced a Spiritual Awakening. The following fall, I moved to Santa Rosa and attended Genesis School of Discipleship for two years. In 1974 I was asked to create a new pre-school for Christian Life Center with a spiritual curriculum that integrated academics and parenting ministry. Two years later I was invited to help develop pre-schools for YWAM in Hawaii and Los Angeles where the emphasis again lead to family counseling. I began to see God's calling to be totally prepared as a Christian counselor, so I enrolled in Azusa Pacific University's Christian Masters in Counseling. During the middle of my 2-year Master's program, Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA) came to Sonoma County with both ACA and 12-Step meetings and a lecture series at the Orenda Alcoholic Recovery Center. The healing process was important for me, as I identified myself as an adult daughter of an alcoholic father (business man-farmer).

In my recovery process I became very aware that the Christian population was in deep need of the spiritual/emotional healing process that 12-Step program offers to those coming out of an array of dysfunctional homes. A "dysfunctional" home or family is one where the emotional attention needed for the child's developmental process is given elsewhere. Dysfunctions include: alcoholic, drugs (including prescriptions), workaholic, legalistic-religious, gambling, incest/molestation, rage, abuse/neglect, etc. Unfortunately, Christians sometimes feel the deep pain and suffering can be resolved with salvation. However, this unresolved pain sometimes continues to reveal itself weeks, months or years later. Without emotional healing, I don't believe a Christian is able to receive all of God's unconditional love. There is the tendency to transfer the conditional love we often experience from our earthly parents onto God. The 12 Steps are Spiritual Living Skills. They give us the tools for a hands-on relationship with God, ourselves and others. Christian counseling, combined with recovery, has a strong focus on healing our pain so that we can become the whole people God originally created us to be.

I Thessalonians 5:23 ...may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I integrate Biblical principles, including prayer, God's Word and His ways, into the treatment process, along with a good understanding of all denominational backgrounds and affects of spiritual abuse. In addition to the aforementioned addictions, co dependency, adult-child issues, I counsel those in crisis, trauma, suffering grief and loss (death, divorce), marital and parenting issues and spiritual growth. I work with individuals, kids, teens and/or whole families and am on many insurance plans. A sliding fee scale is available for those in need.