The Wonder Story
My experience working with women over the years as a doula, trauma therapist, teacher, and storyteller, has shown me that women have impossibly high expectations for themselves.
I created Wonder to help you feel great about who you are and what you bring to the world.
So that when life throws the shit at you, not only can you handle it, you can also find space to have love and joy alongside it.
It’s so easy to lose yourself after becoming a mom.
From pregnancy or the process of adoption, to the toddler and teenage years, to them leaving the nest—assuming your role as a parent and continuing to be a woman in the world is hard.
(It’s not just you!)
You’re continually trying to take care of everybody and everything.
In Wonder, we help you take care of you.
We offer an ongoing community for moms of all stages, 6-week support groups for specific seasons of life, and 1×1 coaching opportunities.
The Wonder Framework
Everything you are feeling and experiencing is part of your story.
But it doesn’t determine who you are or what you are capable of.
Humans are complicated and emotional creatures, but once we learn to understand ourselves, we can move through the world feeling supported and confident.
When I became a mom and lost my mom to cancer, I was rudderless and had no one to guide me. I spent a lot of years thinking I had to settle for good enough and wait until the grief was over before I could really enjoy my life.
For years I thought I had it all figured out. I was calm in a crisis and managed to build a good life for myself in spite of some great losses and huge hills to climb.
One day though, I woke up in the middle of the night to realize that even though I had built myself a good life and, on paper, had everything a person could want—healthy marriage, beautiful healthy kids, and the support of my family—I never felt safe or calm or able to truly enjoy all that was around me because I was constantly on alert for something bad to happen, or stuck in the fear that I couldn’t handle whatever I was growing into—good or bad.
I didn’t know how to live in the moments between the chaos. Peace scared me.
I had to learn I was a human and thus had to experience the entire range of emotions, including sorrow and grief and rage and all the other stuff we label as “bad,” if I ever wanted to feel good.
As the founder of Wonder, I bring together my 25+ years of experience working in service to the healing of others.
(It’s almost comical how many letters I can put after my name.)
I started as an educator—with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in the field. Then I spent some time in the healing arts: certified doula, holistic health coach, meditation and yoga teacher.
All that self-discovery led to another Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a crisis and trauma focus. And finally, a realized dream as I earned my Doctorate in Psychology—defending my research on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders on a video conference call with my Committee of Professors in their home offices (and some kitchen tables) during the lockdown of 2020.
But whenever I’m asked to introduce myself, no matter how many professional titles I have or how old my kids are, I start by saying I’m a mom of three.
It is my favorite job and the role I’m most proud of.
I am still (mostly) happily married to the man I met at his high school junior prom. We have spent more of our lives on earth together than apart and while it is work, the payoff is totally worth it. I wouldn’t want to do life with anyone else.
I’m a sucker for any and all pups. I love British legal dramas and just about every hospital show that ever existed. I write because I’m not sure how I would live if I didn’t. The only dream I haven’t yet realized as an adult is performing-on stage or screen. But there is still time—life is long. 😉