If you looked at my resume, you’d see a strange collection of jobs: Registered Nurse. U.S. Army Veteran. Ordained Minister. Civil Air Patrol Chaplain. Licensed Professional Counselor. On paper, it might look like I couldn’t decide what I wanted to be.

In reality, I never changed my mind at all. Every one of those roles asked the same question of me: can you be steady for someone on their worst day? And every time, I said yes.

I spent more than 33 years as a nurse, which means I’ve sat with people through fear, pain, and the kind of vulnerability that strips everything down to what’s real. I served in the Army, which means I understand duty, sacrifice, and the particular weight that service members and veterans carry home with them. As a chaplain and ordained minister, I’ve held space for people questioning their faith in the middle of their worst moments. And now, as a trauma therapist, all of that experience comes together in the room with you.

I didn’t come to trauma work through a textbook. I came to it through a lifetime of watching what happens to people who give everything to everyone else and never learn how to receive care themselves. I started this practice because I wanted to be that care — for the nurses, the veterans, the first responders, the caregivers, and, honestly, for anyone tired of white-knuckling their way through life.