Eden Tree Counseling

Early on, diversity mattered

I was born to educational missionaries in Papua New Guinea in the 1970's, the youngest of three children. For the first 18 months of my life, I heard and understood three languages, and was cared for by a native Papuan man from the Enga tribe, who had a daughter my age. 

As I grew up in Papua New Guinea, most of my friends were different shades of brown, from the lightest tan to the deepest blue. Or they were from far off places, like Germany and Australia. 

My family left Papua New Guinea to return to my parents' country, the United States, when I was almost 8 years old. This move changed me, and is one of the difficult experiences in my life I draw on in order to understand the challenges, frustrations and sufferings of the children and families I work with now.

Becoming a multicultral therapist

Because of the values instilled in me by my family and my upbringing, I have always wanted to be of service, but I didn’t know I wanted to be a therapist until I became one. 

In high school in Southern California, I volunteered across the border with children and, due to these influential experiences, vowed to become bilingual. I chose to go to a faith-based college, where I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in International Service and Spanish in 1998.  

I lived abroad in Nigeria and worked creatively with women and children, where I developed a passion for abandoned and orphaned children. Upon returning home, I got my first job as a social worker in Chicago's neighborhoods most impacted by poverty and oppression. After getting married, working briefly at an orphanage in Guatemala, and moving to Boulder, I attended the University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work, and specialized in International Social Work, focusing on macro interventions for community-sized problems. My graduate research focused on international, interracial adoption in China and was published in Adoption Quarterly. My first job out of graduate school was a bilingual therapist position, and I've been doing that (and loving it) ever since.

My professional experience

Now I have over 17 years of professional experience working with children, adolescents and families. 

I have provided services to individuals at all levels of intensity: from low risk children going through a transition in their lives, to high-risk adolescents and adults with significant mental illness. 

I have helped: 

• families at risk of losing their children due to addiction, abuse and neglect

• high-risk youth with mental illness, educational struggles and legal battles

• parents struggling with challenging children, foster and adopted children, children with autism and other sensory differences and challenging behaviors

• middle school aged youth going through identity crises and social conflict

• young adults emerging into adulthood

Most recently, I have been providing primarily play therapy and parenting support based on attachment theory. This early intervention model is proving very satisfying and successful with children ages 3-11.