Our story

When I was in graduate school to become a therapist, the narrative about post-grad employment was always, “do your time in community mental health.” It seemed as if every therapist had to “pay their dues” before moving to private practice. However, I knew from the moment I began thinking about becoming a therapist that my long term goal was to operate my own small group practice where I could integrate my clinical passion, business interests, and mentorship skills. Fate aligned and I was hired at a private practice straight out of graduate school, working for a supervisor who was interested in developing her associates to be therapists AND business owners. I quickly learned that there is a major difference between practices that expand to make money, and practices that expand because they want to collaborate together and provide ethical and quality therapy to their community.

After becoming fully licensed, I founded Aspen Therapy in pursuit of my dream to have a group practice. From the beginning of formation, I envisioned Aspen as a group practice, even though I knew it would be just me for a while. I chose the name Aspen as an homage to the Aspen tree, which is unique as it grows in groves above ground, but underneath the soil the roots of all the trees are interconnected. It is a metaphor for how I feel about therapy—that we are all human connected by empathy and compassion, and when you come to my therapy space, you are never alone.