In 2000, I graduated from North Central College in Naperville with a BA in English and my teaching certificate. After teaching computer and gym classes at a small private school on the west side of Chicago for one year, I began teaching English and coaching football at my alma mater, Carmel Catholic High School, in Mundelein. During my seven-years there, I earned my MA in teaching English.
I had always been interested in how the mind works and the driving force behind human behavior and the choices we make. Being in the classroom only deepened my interests in these areas. It wasn’t long before I recognized the importance of addressing the social-emotional element to teaching and coaching. Over the past two decades that I have been working with adolescents, I have been witness to a steady increase in the social-emotional pressure they carry with them on a daily basis. They bring it with them into the school classroom; they bring it with them into the sports arena; they bring it with them into their social groups; they bring it with into their homes. Our children are under more pressure today than any other time in history, and that pressure manifests itself in their social-emotional health: their thoughts, their feelings, their behavior and choices.
My experience is not limited to what I see in others. Having four children in the span of five years has helped illuminate the fact that social-emotional health starts at home.
In 2007, I transitioned from Carmel Catholic High School to Barrington High School, where I still teach today. This transition allowed me the opportunity to go back to graduate school. Following my interests, I quickly began working on a second MA, this one in counseling.
Having completed my degree, I began working with clients in 2012. Today, as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, I am excited to be working with individuals and families, alike, from my own private practice. With over twenty years of experience working in schools with adolescents and their families, over twenty years working with my own children at home, and over a decade working to shape my own counseling practice, I am excited to offer my comprehensive mental health services to you, your children, and/or your family.
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