About Star Rise
Learning to Love Yourself
Healing isn’t about perfection — it’s about understanding yourself with compassion.
I believe that life itself is our greatest teacher. Every challenge, every feeling, every turning point offers a chance to grow in self-acceptance and clarity.
If you’re looking for a collaborative, supportive space to explore what’s next for you, let’s talk.
My Story of the Sun and Moon
I like to think it was a silent snowy night in South Dakota when I was born, and it might even be the case. Let's go with it.
The Great Plains of landlocked North America, with all of its storms and mosquitos, never quite sat right in me. I am thankful for those feral child and teen years of the 70's-80's that led to me to my whimsical adventure out West at age 19. I traveled all the way to Eugene, OR, knowing nothing more than its hippie history and regional volcanics. I was ready for any landscape that wasn't flat.
It wasn't long before I found myself in Portland, as one in Oregon may do, getting a tattoo. That's unsurprising. What surprises me is that it was not a whim that was leading me. The tattooed image of the smiling sun eclipsing the moon had been calling to me for over a year, but I didn't fully understand why. It took moving to Oregon and visiting the library to run across a book title, The Marriage of the Sun and Moon, by Dr Andrew Weil, MD, to find out all about it.
This book was missing from the shelves at first, due back any day. This was pre-Internet, folks - we didn't just have all the resources or know what every book was about or when things would happen just by looking them up online. I was a poor student to boot. So, I had to wait. I returned, day after day, until I saw the librarian in the section near the correct Dewey decimals. I recall standing by and haunting that librarian until they produced the beautiful book named after my favorite sun-and-moon symbol. I sat down in a carrel by the window overlooking 13th Avenue, and read. And read.
To say I was mystified would be an understatement. This symbol, which I captured from an album cover no less by a marginally popular 80's band, meant something I found very deep - essentially, integrated and enlightened consciousness. It signified alchemy, magic, and the unity of opposites. It depicted an eclipse, which according to its author could instigate a change in consciousness rivaling all mind-altering substances. The book even had a chapter on Lakota sweat lodge rituals, referencing my home state of South Dakota.
I was enchanted. The synchronicities were stacking up. As the child of a psychologist and a nurse in a religious family, I was primed to look inward. I've been that way ever since I can recall, even curiously noticing my own heartbeat at an early age and holding my breath to see if I had the power to stop it. I still remember dreams from these single-digit ages and questioning why all people weren't treated equally. I needed more from spirituality than one book or philosophy could give me. I watched Obi-wan Kenobi explain the "force," read Stephen King novels, and peered into the darkness through one hand over my eyes, fearful but curious about what was in the unpredictable but fascinating shadows.
Fast forward to my forties and a major life transition. Parents gone and other friends and family dispersed, I went for a bike ride to contemplate the ending of a longstanding chapter in my life: the Star Wars saga. The final episode launched, again near my birthday, and it might sound silly but my life flashed before my eyes: from getting my first Chewbacca doll at age four, to wishing the world were full of Jedis, to the lifelong need for Good to finally overpower the Dark Side.
It was then that I decided to embrace endings with the other side of endings: beginnings. I was going to move to Portland and work for myself by starting a private practice. With that, I would be enacting and living the truth of my whole life and self. I was committed to allow this to become the moment when I rise up finally to meet and trust my inner self. In the Star Wars saga, a character named Rey was estranged from her family and did not feel whole or know who she was -- until she decided who she was. She decided she was a Skywalker, a family of empowered spiritual people who stood up for what they believed in. I was not a Skywalker, but I could be the star of my own life -- the sun in my own sky seeking fulfillment. Knowing that those "perfect" moments of wholeness are so rare, but reliable and beautiful.
Mind you, I know I do not live in a galaxy far, far away. I do not condone wars. And I'm not so naive as to believe that good and evil are that black and white. Even in the ending saga, there was no promise of lasting peace or wholeness. I admire the characters' courage and solidarity, but the symbol of the marriage of the sun and moon best represents my quest: unity, wholeness, and an appreciation for those magical moments that must be caught and celebrated quickly because they will so soon be gone.
We may never be so complete as the alchemical marriage seems to suggest. Alchemy is still a state of mind. A philosophy. It is a picture worth so much more than a few words, and it can be understood by that part of the self that knows what it knows, without knowing how or why. The symbol seems to represent a finality, but it is not. Its truth happens in passing, with utterly perfect placement, bringing a picture of wholeness and night into day, unifying opposites for mere minutes.
The last time I had the chance to see an eclipse before the one that crossed Oregon in 2017, I was in kindergarten. A friend's dad came to the school with a telescope and we each got a turn to go out and look at it. I remembered what I was warned about looking at the sun, however, and I was too scared to look through the telescope. Later on after many such moments of letting fear steer my direction, I regretted that moment and vowed to view the next one, which just happened to be in Oregon, forty years later, in another sublime synchronicity.
A minute or two may not make or break you. But a collection of minutes spent in a certain way -- in fear, apprehension, avoidance, guilt, anger, jealousy, complacency, or regret -- just might. It adds up. By that same token, at any point you can make your magical moment without needing anything to be perfectly placed or scheduled on the calendar. You can decide that a minute or two can be spent differently -- in acceptance, love, curiosity, with balance, a sense of humor, or self-compassion -- and that all adds up, too.
Serving Oregon and Washington
I am a mental health professional with a master's degree in counseling psychology since 2008, practicing in the Pacific Northwest since 2015. I am a licensed provider for residents of the state of Oregon, as well as the state of Washington. I prefer an integrative approach that recognizes all parts of your life (around and inside your self) as potential contributors to who you are, how you think, and how you feel.
WHAT IS INTEGRATIVE COUNSELING?
First, integrative counseling recognizes that there are no lines between the different areas of your life, including the emotional, mental, physical, social, and spiritual. Challenges that show up in emotional and mental health can originate from anywhere in you as a whole "system." Wherever they come from, your greatest and smallest challenges faced can be made useful and even propel you forward. Integrative counseling uses the past in such ways as identifying past beliefs, processing trauma, and analyzing the chain of actions and events that led to certain decisions or outcomes. If we work together, we'll use your desired future as a guiding vision. We will work to recognize, too, that your power to be, to change, and to take action is entirely in the present moment. Integrative counseling ultimately focuses you on the point where past and future meet: right NOW. To take inventory of your skills, areas of overdevelopment, and areas to be developed, is to begin finding the balance that can ground you.
Let's be specific with your intent, because concrete goals are the easiest to work with. You may not know for sure right away, which is OK - can also start by questioning and wondering what you intend and want. Most people start with a general direction.
Clearly you care about creating your life consciously, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Integrative counseling brings in any and all of the tools that are appropriate for your situation, to help you use all you've been through, and all you've thought and felt deeply about, in order to achieve what you want.
Secondly, integrative therapy for those at least 21 years of age can also mean working with the material that came up after you had a psychedelic experience. Oregon is a leader in the nation on psilocybin-assisted therapy because we have a legal program for adult supported use of psilocybin. Integration comes after that decision and experience.
WHO I WORK WITH
I work with individuals age 14 and over. Each potential collaboration is something I consider carefully. I like to have a short, no-cost phone conversation with each person first, to answer any questions and to see if our schedules and such are a match. I have extended training and experience in some areas, such as working with people with anxiety and depression, trauma, disordered eating, the rainbow of people in the LGBTQ+ community, people with bicultural or multicultural backgrounds, and as mentioned above, adults who have used psychedelics for therapeutic reasons and goals. I don't have expertise in all areas, and in certain cases, I'm ethically required to refer you onward to someone who does.
For those 55 and older, I've been asked to invite you to visit THIS LINK - a comprehensive guide that delves into prevalent mental health conditions among seniors and explores the available options for supportive housing and care.
MY BACKGROUND IN SERVICE
My parents came from service fields: my mother was a nursing teacher and my father a psychology professor and military veteran. I've spent most of my professional life in service to others, adding my voice to that of those most in need of being heard. Among other places lesser known, I've worked for:
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The Boys and Girls Club
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YWCA
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Lutheran Social Service
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Minnesota state Housing Finance Agency for supportive housing
My work has included:
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14 years in non-profit organizations
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7+ years focus on LGBTQ+ community
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5 years working in/with homeless shelters, serving unhoused and formerly unhoused families and individuals
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Working with people with serious persistent mental illness in their homes to increase their stability and community
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Coordinating volunteers and donations in programs assisting formerly unhoused families and individuals (paid and volunteer)
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Teaching and tutoring English as a second language (paid and volunteer)
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Raising funds to send rural Cambodian youth, primarily young women, to college (paid and volunteer)
And my time and work continues to be dedicated to service of the underserved, including people and our beloved animal companions.