Thank you for taking the time to visit my website. I am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor-Supervisor currently practicing in my telehealth private practice, Therapy Dynamics PLLC. I started Therapy Dynamics on January 1st, 2021 during the Covid era after working with telehealth assessments at the Minneapolis Veteran’s Administration.

What I do

I provide remote autism and ADHD assessments that include mental health evaluations when requested as well as keeping a small therapy practice. My current scope is in Minnesota, but with the Compact, that may be changing. In my practice, I provide quality assessments and work with individuals ages 7+.

I also am engaged as a social skills coach helping autistic individuals and their families to refine their social skills at IRL Social Skills. Say what? Social skills are ableist. See my blog. I know that’s a sticky wicket, but it’s worth having a larger discussion. At the end of the day, if someone feels that social skills coaching is not for them, I absolutely respect their feelings. I do not support social skills teaching as a cure for autism!

I earned my MS in Molecular Biology in 2001 and taught biology at my local university for several years.  All of that changed on December 15, 2005, when I was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with my youngest child.  I was left to navigate my pregnancy with few resources.  As I grew stronger, I began volunteering for “Hope for Two”, an organization that provides support to women who are diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy.  Helping other women struggling to make decisions and cope with the diagnoses they had been given, left me asking if science was the direction that I wanted to continue to take my life in.  At the same time, my oldest child was diagnosed with autism. 

I began searching for resources for adolescents and discovered that there were few in our area.  My determination to develop resources and network with organizations providing help for autistic individuals fueled my interest in returning to graduate school to study counseling.  After completing my M.A. in counseling, I administered psychological assessments and counseled children, adolescents and adults with autism, depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, learning disabilities, and selective mutism. I wrote neuropsychological assessments, diagnostic assessments, and letters of prior authorization from 2015-2020 under the supervision of a neuropsychologist. After this, I worked on a project with the Minneapolis VA administering assessments online. When that project ended, I got involved with teaching social skills to autistic adolescents and young adults while starting my private practice.

I was a regular contributor to MDFamily magazine between 2000-2005; writing articles on parenting, marriage, finances, education, and medical training. In 2003, I wrote my first book, Surviving Residency. My other publishing credits include being featured in Medical Exchange magazine, and writing articles on motherhood for the St. Cloud Times between 2005-2008. My second book, A Rolling Stone Gathers no Moss was published in 2008.

Visit Therapy Dynamics to find out more about remote autism and ADHD assessments in Minnesota.