I was introduced to sandtray while working the graveyard shift of a domestic violence shelter in southern New Mexico in 1998.The children’s therapist was a sandtray practitioner who had trained with Theresa. She invited me to create my own trays and cautioned me not to dissemble them, that she would do so, emphasizing the importance of leaving my world intact and protected. I had attended dream groups for around 10 years previously, and the sandtray process landed for me like active, awake dream work. After graduating in 2001 from UNM with my master’s in counseling, I began making my way for 21 years through Theresa Kestly’s training institute’s 10 levels.  In the summer of 2022, I started a work study position with Theresa who graciously agreed to allow me to attend all 10 levels again while helping her with the underlying logistics, and I have worked for her since in varying capacities. It has been an impactful experience getting to observe and soak in Theresa’s compassionate and gentle but profound way of instilling her depth of knowledge to participants and further hone my intellectual understanding, while ever deepening my felt-sense of the power of sandtray as guide into the known and unknown of human growth, healing, and expansion.  As well, I have so enjoyed and benefited from spending time with the institute’s amazing participants.

In addition to being certified in Sandtray Therapy, I am certified in Post-Traumatic Growth Somatic Therapy and am trained in EMDR.  I have a private practice in Durango and am a licensed clinical therapist in Colorado and New Mexico. I have spent a majority of the last 24 years as a therapist working in New Mexico with the opportunity of working with individuals from varied cultural backgrounds and experiences. My expertise has mainly focused on recovery and healing for survivors in generational, historical, relational, and sexual trauma.