I spent forty years unraveling my unhealthy attachments—the hard way. After watching my mom and dad enable my adored older brother for twenty years before he tragically died from an overdose, and then carrying the “fix-it” behavior I learned at home into my marriage, I spent decades striving to control things around me, juggling raising kids and serving as a partial business owner, while frantically trying to manage everything and everyone around me. 

Something had to change.

Decades in prayer, yoga and therapy led to extensive study and research, volunteering with nonprofits, and working with numerous psychologists and licensed marriage and family therapists. My recovery journey had me writing books and training as life coach, speaking and leading workshops to teach others to begin recognizing roles, letting go and embracing change. 

Then both parents died—Mom from Lewy Body Dementia and Dad from Alzheimer’s—around the time of a divorce I never imagined after twenty-eight years of marriage.

Thankfully, I had trusted Jesus, learned resilience and developed the skills necessary to find joy in my life regardless of my loss and struggles. Today I’m thriving and I want that for you, too.

Now I am a co-facilitator for PAL (Parents of Addicted Loved Ones). I served on the board of People Reaching Out and am a trained facilitator for Parent Project. I also completed the 12-Steps at Celebrate Recovery. While earning my MFA from the University of Reno at Lake Tahoe in creative nonfiction I wrote my self-help memoir about living in the shadow of an addicted sibling and am currently completing my second manuscript on The Untangled Life.

The thing I love most is helping people learn—the easy way—how to take back their life and recover their joy while dealing with Other People’s Stuff.