About Me

My background   

I have been interested in relationship dynamics since I was very young.  I knew I wanted to be a therapist as soon as I learned what one was at the age of 14. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Women’s Studies in 1995, I moved from the midwest to rural southern Oregon.  There, I began working with chemically dependent pregnant women, then as a counselor with teenage girls in residential treatment. I knew very soon that I was in the right field for me.    

It was also at that time (in my early twenties) that I began to explore the practice of yoga. Wanting to incorporate all that I was learning through meditation and yoga with my interest in psychology, I chose to pursue my Master of Arts in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University, and graduated in 2003.   

While at Naropa, I chose to focus on the intersection of human development along the pathways of attachment and spiritual growth. The program combined rigorous clinical training with contemplative mindfulness practices that are part of the foundation of my approach as a psychotherapist. During graduate school, I also immersed myself in studying Ashtanga yoga at the Yoga Workshop. 

After graduate school, I worked as a primary therapist for four years at the Eating Disorder Center of Denver, and also created their therapeutic yoga program that continues today. In 2007, I began working as an outpatient psychotherapist at La Luna Center, began my private practice, and completed the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute’s Training for the Treatment of Trauma. 

I also married my husband Jayson in 2007, and became a mother in 2009. In my early years as a mother, my interest in energetics and spirituality deepened again. I continued in my yoga studies and also completed Meditating with the Body, a body based meditation course taught by Reggie Ray, studied with Sandra Ingerman on shamanic journeying, and received my Level 3 certification in Reiki through Reiki Colorado.

As I settled more fully into marriage and family life, I returned to my original interest in human development, attachment, and relationship. It was then that I discovered Stan Tatkin and his model for couple therapy. I began training with him in his method, the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy, in 2013, and am now a Certified PACT practitioner and I focus primarily on couples in my work.

Since 2016 I have also been on faculty for The Relationship School, founded by my husband, Jayson Gaddis. Together, we have developed Present Centered Couple’s Coaching which is a coaching model for working with couples, and train coaches in this method. We also offer a course to couples who want to upgrade an already good relationship. Additionally, I am an occasional guest on Jayson’s podcast, the The Relationship School Podcast.

While I continue to love studying people and facilitating relationship work, I am most fulfilled by my family life.  My life is made meaningful by the relationships I hold most dear, and I look forward to supporting you in yours.