How I finally got here with this alphabet soup after my name!

I wanted to be an actress. I mean I really gave it a run. Auditioned for a professional program, got in, turned it down because I wanted a different one. Oops. (or not?!) I became a mom instead. Then I became a trainer for Nutri-system in the 80’s and my mom had kidney failure. I moved from Seattle to Corvallis, where I became a mom again. I managed a fabric store and was a seamstress for a living. I survived an abusive marriage. I went back to grad school and became a counselor. I wanted to counsel adults. I fell in love with counseling adolescents and the grieving of all ages. I did that work for 10 years. I led and trained a multi-district school crisis response team and was NOVA and Crisis Debrief trained for the county crisis response team. I was called to 911, but did not go. I was asked to teach adjunct for OSU in 1997 and reawakened to my desire to teach. I finished my Ph.D in 2004 and did a nationwide job search. I left behind my beloved family (except one daughter), 3 failed marriages and moved to San Diego where I fell in love with and married with my last husband and worked as a counselor educator at the University of San Diego. I was president of the Western Division of Counselor Education. I helped California become the last state in the nation to get professional counselor licensure. I started a private practice since I now had a license! I was not granted my 4 year promotion due to Politics. I should have fought it. I did not. I began teaching online in 2009 and never looked back. Starting in 2013, my hubby and I began a gypsy life of moving every year or so. I had a grandson in 2016 and it changed my life. I finished my full-time educational career in 2021 at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology where I was the director of Clinical Training for 5 years.

On my journey, I became a Reiki Master level 2, a yoga teacher, mindfulness guru, and probably more. I have accumulated more certificates than I can name, published in books, presented nationally and internationally. I have studied alternate healing and believe I was born a shaman. I am here Now.

That.. the being here Now. That my manitous, is the stuff of life. And so it is, my BEST life is in my hands, Right now; Right Here. I get to be the kind of healer and helper I have always longed to be, on my own terms, with all the support I need from those who love me. Feel free to pursue the certs, the CV. They are small in comparison to the whole of the me I bring to you.

I am excited to be here. Now. for You. Manitou’s.

Amen A’ho, and so it is.

With Kindness and Gratitude,

Lori