Experience

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My journey to Christian mental health coaching, advocacy, and ministry has been shaped by both professional training and personal transformation.

I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences with an emphasis in Psychology from the University of Hawaii–West Oahu. Like many young graduates, I believed I had a clear vision for my future. God, however, had a different plan, one that would prepare me to serve others in ways I could never have imagined.

At twenty-five years old, after seven years of infertility, I welcomed my daughter, Keana, into the world. Keana was born with a congenital muscular dystrophy and an unknown diagnosis with no long-term prognosis. Her life forever changed the trajectory of my own.

During one of the most difficult seasons of our journey, I found myself nine months pregnant with my daughter Mackenzie while living in the ICU alongside Keana for nearly two months following an emergency tracheostomy that saved her life. Only one month before Mackenzie's birth, we lost Keana.

As I grieved the loss of one daughter, I prepared to welcome another into the world. That season taught me firsthand that joy and sorrow can coexist, and that God's presence remains even in our deepest pain.

Years later, while pregnant with my son Nate, we learned he had Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and a congenital heart defect requiring open-heart surgery. At five months old, we nearly lost him due to a subdural brain hemorrhage where we had to take him off blood thinners. This is also where I saw the power of prayer and laying of hands, when medical teams felt like there was nothing left to do God made a way. By God's grace, Nate survived and continues to teach our family lessons about perseverance, joy, and unconditional love.

As Nate grew, additional diagnoses followed, including Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 3. At the same time, we were navigating concerns regarding Mackenzie. By two and a half years old, we began seeing challenges that eventually led to years of evaluations, advocacy, and searching for answers. Over time, she received diagnoses including anxiety, sensory processing differences, giftedness, and ultimately Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1 with a Pathological Demand Avoidance profile.

For more than twelve years, I sat on one side of the table as teacher to students with disabilities, providing services, accommodations, understanding, and support for my students. While my educational training equipped me professionally, nothing could fully prepare me for the emotional, spiritual, and relational toll that caregiving, disability, advocacy, and chronic uncertainty place upon a family.

As a special education teacher serving students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and varying exceptionalities. I hold a Florida Professional Educator's Certificate in:

• Elementary Education (Pre-K–3)
• Elementary Education (K–6)
• Exceptional Student Education (K–12)
• Reading Endorsement (K–12)

I also completed the Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) 40-Hour Training through the Autism Partnership Foundation.

After leaving the classroom, I founded Limitless Ability Educational Services, where I began advocating for students with disabilities and their families on the other side of the table. Through this work, I became a Master IEP Coach® and have had the privilege of helping countless families navigate educational systems, disability services, and the unique challenges that accompany raising children with exceptional needs.

At the same time, God opened doors for ministry. For more than a decade, I have served within the local church providing lay pastoral care, discipleship, encouragement, and support to individuals and families navigating difficult seasons of life. I also spent years serving within special needs ministry, helping develop curriculum and create environments where children and adults with disabilities could encounter God's love, grow in faith, and participate fully in the life of the church.

For many years, I believed special needs ministry was the ultimate expression of my calling. Then God revealed something deeper. He showed me that much of my identity had become rooted in carrying a burden I was never meant to carry alone. For nearly twenty-three years, I had found purpose within the pain of raising children with disabilities. What began as faithful service had slowly become part of my identity.

In His kindness, God invited me to lay that burden down.

Through inner healing ministry, listening prayer, and the transformative work of the Holy Spirit, He began revealing areas of woundedness, striving, and misplaced identity that I had carried for decades. He reminded me that my identity was never meant to be found in my role as an advocate, educator, ministry leader, or even a special needs parent. My identity was always meant to be found in Christ alone.

As God continued to redirect my path, He opened a new door through prison ministry. What initially seemed unexpected became another sacred place where I witnessed His power to heal, restore, and redeem. There, I encountered women carrying stories of trauma, addiction, grief, shame, abuse, and brokenness. Through these experiences, God deepened my understanding that healing is possible for every person regardless of their past.

Believing I was returning to the path I had originally intended after college, I began pursuing a Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling through Liberty University. However, during that journey, I realized my calling was not simply to counsel people, but to walk alongside them in a way that openly integrated biblical truth, discipleship, and the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

That realization led me to Light University, where I earned Master Diplomas in Mental Health Coaching with specialized training in:

• Professional Mental Health Coaching
• Grief and Loss
• Addiction and Recovery
• Life Recovery
• Human Flourishing
• Military and First Responder Care
• Trauma-Informed Care

While professional training has been invaluable, some of the most significant lessons in my life came through personal brokenness.

In all of this, I lived two very different lives as a bride. After a twenty-year relationship ended amid infidelity, addiction, and emotional abuse, I found myself at a crossroads. I was facing the prospect of being a single mom to Keana. Who would want the brokenness her father saw in us? But God sent the gift of my husband, father of Mackenzie and Nate. Years of striving, surviving, caregiving, and carrying burdens I was never meant to carry had taken their toll. What appeared to be the end of everything became the beginning of God's deepest work in my life. And when I started living in complete surrender as a daughter and bride of Christ, it changed everything about everything.

It was in that complete surrender that I encountered the healing power of God in a way I had never experienced before. Through the love of Abba Father, the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, God began restoring what had been broken. He healed wounds, renewed identity, strengthened my marriage, transformed our family, and revealed that true healing comes only from Him.

Looking back, I can now see God's faithfulness woven through every chapter of my story. He knew what was coming long before I did. He prepared me through every loss, every diagnosis, every disappointment, every challenge, every ministry season, and every victory.

Today, I bring together my background in psychology, education, disability advocacy, ministry leadership, pastoral care, trauma-informed coaching, and Christian mental health coaching to serve individuals and families seeking hope, healing, identity, and purpose.

My story is not ultimately about trauma, disability, grief, addiction, loss, or broken relationships.

My story is about the faithfulness of God.

It is a testimony that He still heals. He still restores. He still redeems. He still transforms.

No matter where you find yourself today, there is hope. There is healing. There is purpose. And there is a God who specializes in bringing beauty from ashes.