About Sam

Hello. My name is Sam. My own human experience has been and continues to be pretty messy. I know all too well how the various forms of suffering can thwart your hopes for this life. My lived experiences have shown me just how fragile life can be. Life has shown me that although I have an immense amount of agency in this world: I cannot will or force myself out of the reality of pain. Nor can I claim to have all the answers and full understanding as to why things happen.

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Rather than this being crushing, it feels liberating. No longer do I fault myself- or others- as responsible for the things that plague me; nor do I feel a sense of discomfort when confronted with something for which I have zero explanation. Instead, I recognize just how complex our human experience is. And when posed with an impossible question that no answer can fully satisfy, I am perfectly content with stating, "I don't know" (much to the chagrin of some of my clients who want me to explain away their problem so they can find the "right" solution).

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My willingness to embrace mystery, ambiguity, and nuance tends to make some people wildly uncomfortable (particularly people who have been brought up in religious or cultural systems that promise you *can* find an explanation, certainty, and "the" answer). However, I'd like to think this willingness of mine is what enables me to be the kind of therapist that a client actually needs (versus the therapist that will sit there and tell you all the "right" solutions). 

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The kind of therapist who recognizes her own limitations, rather than promising to be the Source of healing.

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The kind of therapist who willingly sits with you in your messy pain, rather than trying to prematurely move you out of it.

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The kind of therapist who gently invites you into your humanity, rather than out of it.

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When I'm not musing about all things existential, I enjoy spending time in my garden, drinking chai or other tasty beverages out of one of many mugs in my collection, and hanging out with my husband, kiddo, and spunky Australian Shepherd (who still insists that he's the firstborn child) on the mountainous trails in Colorado. ​