Adoption & Foster Care

Adoptive families are built with love — and sometimes they need specialized support to hold together.

I came to this work not just as a clinician, but as an adoptive mother who has lived the complexity, the beauty, and the hard days of building a family through adoption. I know what it feels like to love a child deeply and still feel lost when that child's behavior, grief, or attachment struggles ripple through the entire family, affecting everyone. When you sit across from me, you don’t have to explain why it’s complicated. I understand.

Adoption touches every family member differently and at different times. A child who seemed to be thriving can hit adolescence and suddenly begin to wrestle with identity, loss, and belonging in ways that feel new and overwhelming. I specialize in working with teens navigating these questions, as well as with adoptive parents who are trying to stay connected to a child who may be pushing them away. That work is grounded in a deep foundation in attachment and trauma-informed care — one that traces back to the early 2000s, when I trained directly with Dr. Karyn Purvis at the TCU Institute of Child Development. This was before the formal certification program existed — a small, intensive cohort working alongside Dr. Purvis herself, learning the principles and relational techniques that would later become Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). That formative experience shaped the way I understand children's behavior, attachment needs, and the healing power of felt safety. Many of the behaviors that look like defiance are actually expressions of fear, grief, or an unmet need for safety — and knowing how to respond to that difference is everything.

I work with adolescents navigating ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) — terms many families are given, even when they don’t fully capture what’s going on beneath the surface. Rather than focusing on labels alone, I help families understand the underlying patterns driving behavior, and build practical, effective ways to respond. I work with both teens and their parents, because real, lasting change in a young person's life almost always involves supporting the whole family — not just the child in the room.

If your family is struggling — whether through adoption-related grief, attachment challenges, a teenager who seems unreachable, or behaviors that have left everyone depleted — you don't have to figure it out alone. I have worked with families in need for years, and I bring a practical, directive, and deeply compassionate approach. Families are worth fighting for. Let's get to work.