Welcome to Neurodivergent P.E.A.C.E. I am glad that you are here! I am a licensed psychologist in Indiana. My area of clinical focus is neurodiversity, especially related to Autism and giftedness, although I also enjoy working with ADHD’ers as well as individuals with learning and intellectual developmental differences.
Regarding my educational background, I completed my doctorate degree in Educational Psychology (School Psychology) at Ball State University (BSU) in 2018. As my doctorate was in Educational Psychology, my program focused especially on working with children and school-based concerns. I also completed focus areas in giftedness and research/statistics. Furthermore, I earned a masters level certificate in gifted education.
Since completed my degree at BSU, I have completed training in AutPlay and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). I have enjoyed working with families using both of these counseling models, and they are being offered through this practice and more information is available on the services page. I also active in consulting with other mental healthcare providers as we work towards making our fields more neurodiversity-affirming.
Neurodivergent P.E.A.C.E. has been a dream and goal of mine for several years. As an individual with multiple neurodivergencies, during my training and early career experiences, I strongly recognized the need for neurodiversity-affirming services. I noted that most of the neurodivergent children and adults, as well as their parents, who came into my office were stressed, worried about the future or the future of their child, lonely, struggling to manage their social relationships, frustrated with sensory concerns, and struggling to meet personal and educational goals. In short, both children and adults, of all different brain types, were saying that they couldn’t find peace, even though they were working very hard to make their lives better. As I began to reflect on my own process of finding peace as a neurodivergent person, I realized that psychologists are uniquely situated to help connect individuals to services that can help them increase their autonomy, reach personal and educational goals, and ultimately find peace in a way that is meaningful to them. As I began this project, I identified four areas of psychological services that can assist people in finding peace and this became the name of my practice:
Providing
Advocacy- This includes self-advocacy skills for children and adults, as well as helping parents navigate and advocate for services their child needs
Education- This includes educating families and individuals about Autism and other neurodivergencies from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective
Counseling- This includes providing a safe place for individuals to explore their identity, reflect on challenges, problem-solve, celebrate successes, and work towards goals
Evaluation- This includes completing neurodiversity-affirming assessments with individuals to help them better understand how they are relating to their world, learning, and regulating their bodies and emotions
Outside of work, I really enjoy gardening, astronomy, music, and dogs. I especially enjoy playing and listening to classical music and training my dogs through dog sports and tricks.