How Hoofbeats came about

I have been in practice for many years following receiving a Bachelors Degree in Child Development from Texas State University and Master of Social Work Degree from the University of Houston. I have been working with children and families since 1983 and have been in private practice since 1995.  It has been my privilege to have worked with such a variety of children and families experiencing a variety of difficulties and challenges, including parent-child conflict, families in transition due to separation, divorce or blending families, ADHD, anxiety, social and peer relationship problems, school related issues, poor emotion regulation, an array of behavior problems, as well as abuse and trauma.   My experience includes working with children in foster care, residential treatment and those who were court adjudicated.

After years of providing traditional, office based therapy I decided to give up the office and meet clients in their homes, parks or wherever was comfortable for them. I also decided to incorporate my love for horses and received additional training in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Learning from Greg Kersten, who created the term “equine assisted psychotherapy” in the 1990’s. He was the first to develop training manuals and a certification process to teach professionals how to utilize the principles and techniques that he found useful in his own work with clients.

I teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy techniques to help clients to become more mindful and regulate their emotions more effectively which helps them to live more in the present instead of living in the past or worrying about the future. I also believe that each session should end with the client feeling not only hopeful but with something specific to work on between sessions. I am an interactive therapist that focuses on solutions.

I feel passionately about recognizing the sacrifice that service members and their families make to serve our country. EAP is widely known to help them face the challenges and pain that they experience when they return from tours of duty. I am on the Board of Directors for the Northwest Natural Horsemanship Center Family Fund, a non-profit organization that provides fully expense paid therapeutic weekend retreats for active duty service members and their families. They experience the healing power of horses through a variety of EAP exercises and family based activities. I am honored to be a part of the healing process by providing a variety of therapeutic services during these events as well as in my practice.