Faculty Bios

My journey towards my doctorate and landing at Regent University, as an Assistant Professor, has been packed with many opportunities to trust God and rest in the certainty of His goodness, even when it seemed like things were a little awry. I often refer to my life as “an open book in which God continues to write His story” (Quote from Mother Teresa).  More often than not, I have a plan and expectation for the direction of my life, but then God steps in and does some directing and redirecting.

The story began in St. Louis, Mo.  After graduating from high school I attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, better known as Mizzou, and obtained a B.S. in Housing & Interior Design.  After graduating, I moved back to St. Louis and worked as a manager at a fast food restaurant for a year and then the next chapter of the story revealed an unplanned and unexpected turn.

The next chapter lasted for 17 years spent serving as a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC).  God granted me the privilege of equipping and training young adults and adolescents in development and growth in a relationship with Christ.  While working with CCC I lived in California, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Florida.  In addition, I served on mission teams that went to two U.S. inner cities and overseas to the Philippines, Singapore and Africa.  This chapter was filled with many terrific opportunities of seeing people come to know Christ as their personal Savior.  After 17 years the story began to change again.  God began to burden my heart for people with emotional and psychological scars from painful experiences in their lives.

As a result of the burden, the next chapter finds me back in school pursing a Master’s degree in Counseling at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla.  After obtaining my M.A., my plan was to put school far behind me and work as a counselor.  This included work in roles such as a therapist in private practice, a drug rehab counselor with adolescents, a program coordinator of a drug program with women in a prison, and as a clinical supervisor of a prison aversion program for young male offenders. Still, God once again changed the plans and began a new chapter – back in academia.

In this chapter I was uprooted out of Orlando and planted in Chicago, Ill., where I attended Wheaton College and received a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology.  After completing my academic work, I was uprooted again and planted in Mt. Gretna, Pa., to complete a pre-doctoral internship position at Philhaven Hospital.  After completing the internship I was once again uprooted and replanted in Virginia Beach, Va., at Regent University.

It is expected that God has many more chapters to write in my life, and a theme that I pray will continue to carry throughout each chapter is that I keep my fervor and desire to learn, train, mentor and teach others.  It is also my prayer that the years at Regent will prove to be a chapter where God is honored, exalted and glorified in my life.  May this chapter be filled with the lives of students being changed as a result of an encounter with God as the author of writing their stories as they are trained to be psychologists and clinicians.