When the Unimaginable happens…
The need for skilled, grounded support is immediate. And when you or your team are facing the immensity of a catastrophe, "recovery and resilience" can start to sound like buzzwords from well-meaning people who just don't have a clue.
As a licensed clinical mental health counselor with a background in disaster mental health, somatic therapy, and energy psychology, serving the human helpers after the storm is where I show up.
I design curriculum, build custom trainings, and deliver them in-person or virtually to clinicians, educators, staff, and community members at every phase of disaster — from acute response through long-term recovery.
Whether I'm building something from scratch or bringing someone else's framework to life, what comes with me into the room is the same: humor, honesty, clinical depth, real-life examples, and tools people can actually use.
What I provide
to organizations.
Disaster mental health is not traditional therapy. It requires a different skill set, a different presence, and training that is actually designed for the population in front of you. This is what I build — and deliver.
-
Built fast, deployed fast — in the days immediately following a disaster. Live, recorded, or both. Designed to equip clinicians, counselors, and community helpers with stabilization skills they can use immediately. A well-meaning provider without this training can cause unintentional harm. Preparation matters.
-
Curated to your organization — from executive leadership to frontline staff. Provides a clear framework for what recovery actually looks like, how disasters impact people over time, and practical skills for building connection, capacity, and stability. Not a morale booster. A functional tool.
-
Experiential, evidence-informed somatic techniques that help people regulate in real time. Deployable with clinicians, educators, or community groups. Draws on Somatic Experiencing, Psychological First Aid, and energy psychology — and designed to be teachable, not just performed.
-
Ongoing support sessions specifically for the helpers inside an institution — the people holding everyone else together while quietly falling apart themselves. Focused on faculty and staff wellbeing in the months-long grind of recovery, when the acute phase has passed but the toll hasn't.
-
Originally developed for Hurricane Helene survivors. Adaptable for any organization navigating a major collective loss. A customized workshop on meaning-making, memory, and post-traumatic growth — designed for the anniversary phase, when the grief is quieter but no less present.
-
One of my strongest suits — and one of the things I love most about this work — is designing curriculum from scratch. Building a program that actually fits the population, the context, and the moment so participants walk away with practical tools and a sense of empowerment to actually use them.
Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor
American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health
Psychological First Aid
Culturally Informed Disaster Mental Health (DMH-C)
Somatic Crisis Stabilization
Energy Psychology · ACEP
Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)
The through-line in everything I do is the nervous system — how it gets overwhelmed, how to build capacity, how to regulate, and how to teach that process in a way that actually sticks.
Still In the Storm: Why disaster Stages Just Won’t Move On
Continuing Education Presentation · Asheville Area Counseling Professionals / Lenoir-Rhyne University
A CE presentation for mental health professionals navigating the long disillusionment phase of disaster recovery — the part nobody warns you about, where the adrenaline is gone, the news trucks have left, and everyone around you seems to think it should be over by now.
Covers the full phases of disaster, why the disillusionment stage has real staying power, what it looks like in your clients and in yourself, and the particular weight of being a long-haul responder. Includes a guided personal resilience planning exercise — because helping professionals are usually the last ones applying any of this to their own lives.
Delivered April 2025 · 30 mental health professionals · CE eligible
Resilience Following Disaster
Workshop Series · AB Technical College & Blue Ridge Community College
A practical, experiential workshop designed for organizations navigating the long, unglamorous middle of disaster recovery — after everyone outside the community has moved on and everyone inside it hasn't.
Built and delivered across both institutions following Hurricane Helene, reaching executive leadership, student services staff, instructional faculty, and professional development cohorts — six separate sessions, each tailored to the audience in the room. Extended to a 12-part video series for ongoing campus access.
Covers the full phases of disaster and why the disillusionment stage lingers so much longer than anyone expects, how disaster maps onto the human nervous system, practical skills for nervous system stabilization, and how to recognize when you or someone around you needs more than a self-care checklist. Includes a personal resilience planning exercise participants leave with something they can actually use.
Designed for educators, mental health professionals, student services staff, community leaders, and organizational teams. Equally effective for frontline staff and executive leadership — the framework holds across the whole organization.
Delivered 2024–2025 · 300+ participants · In-person and virtual
Still Here: Grief, Grit, and the Gifts that Remain
Workshop · New Belgium Brewery, Asheville, NC
A 90-minute meaning-making workshop designed for the one-year mark — when the disaster is officially "over" for everyone outside the community, and still very much present for everyone inside it.
Built specifically for the New Belgium team as a collective acknowledgment of what they survived and navigated together. Combines a snapshot of where the community actually is in the recovery arc, an honest look at how grief shows up a year out (often sideways — in irritability, exhaustion, or numbness rather than tears), nervous system regulation skills built around brewery life, and a closing ritual of honoring both the losses and the unexpected gifts that came from the storm.
The nervous system tools were written for the room — literally. Anchoring exercises named after tap handles and slow pours, co-regulation framed as biology not weakness, movement breaks designed for someone standing between kegs and customers.
Delivered October 2025 · 30 participants · One year after Hurricane Helene
Full teaching portfolio, curriculum samples, and evaluation data available upon request.
What People Are Saying
“AMAZING… I've thought about the talk all day — ALL DAY — and I've told several people how cathartic and insightful it was. Folks don't even know they need this info. But it's REALLY helpful.”
"Really helped things come into focus for me."
— Workshop Participants300+ Participants trained in 2024-2025
"Truly one of the most useful and practical presentations I've experienced."
"I wish all of our in-services were like this."
"Really helped things come into focus for me."
— Workshop Participants96% Rated content immediately applicable to their work
"An awesome training — really, really helpful. Thank you."
"Fascinating speaker. Accessible presenter."
"I love having actual tools to regulate my nervous system with.
“It was beautiful support to receive."