Exploring the Stories That Shape Us
Writing, research, and clinical reflection at the intersection of narrative, spirituality, and mental health.
I am a doctoral candidate in marriage and family therapy, a therapist-in-training at the Nashville Center for Trauma and Psychotherapy, and a writer interested in the deeper questions beneath anxiety, achievement, faith, and meaning.
We are Narrative Creatures
We live by scripts, some we wrote ourselves, and some written for us by family, trauma, faith, ambition, and loss. Across therapy, research, and writing, my work returns to one central question: how do people recover a truer way of living when the old story no longer holds?
My work moves between three rooms: the therapy room, the research desk, and the essay. In each, I am interested in the same terrain: anxiety beneath competence, wounds beneath achievement, faith as both refuge and risk, and the difficult work of becoming whole.
My work moves between writing, research, and clinical practice. Across each, I am interested in the stories people inherit, the pain they learn to carry, and the deeper work of becoming whole.
Areas of Work
Writing
Essays on therapy, meaning, faith, character, anxiety, achievement, and the stories that form us.
Research
Doctoral work on spiritual bypass, religious language, avoidance, mental health, and the integration of psychological and theological understanding.
Clinical Work
I see individuals and couples as a doctoral student therapist at the Nashville Center for Trauma and Psychotherapy under clinical supervision.
Featured Writing
Essays and reflections on therapy, faith, meaning, anxiety, achievement, and the stories that shape a life.
My doctoral research focuses on spiritual bypass: the use of spiritual language, practices, or beliefs to avoid psychological pain, relational repair, grief, trauma, or responsibility.
I am especially interested in helping clinicians, clergy, and lay leaders recognize when spiritual resources are supporting wholeness and when they are quietly reinforcing avoidance.
When Faith Becomes a Way Around Pain Rather Than Through It
Doctoral Research:
Clinical Work
I currently see clients as a doctoral student therapist at the Nashville Center for Trauma and Psychotherapy under clinical supervision.
My clinical interests include anxiety, trauma, couples work, religious trauma, spiritual bypass, and high-achievement lives.
For therapy inquiries, scheduling, fees, availability, or insurance/payment questions, please contact the Nashville Center for Trauma and Psychotherapy directly.
Clinical Interests
Individuals and couples
Faith, meaning, and identity
Anxiety and achievement
Spiritual bypass
Trauma-informed care