One of my longtime mentors, the poet Ellen Bass, often says, “You have to become the person who wrote the thing.” I think about this every day. The act of making something meaningful asks something of us. It stretches us. It changes us. It calls us to grow into a fuller, truer version of ourselves. The creative practice is not separate from your life. It is the shape your becoming takes.

Before I became a full-time writer and coach, I spent fourteen years running The YES School, a therapeutic high school. I worked closely with young people and families during some of the most formative and difficult moments of becoming themselves. That work taught me that growth does not happen through force or performance. It happens through presence, curiosity, attention, and support. I carry that understanding into every session, workshop, and group I lead.

I also work closely with people whose lives and histories have been intense, complex, or difficult to talk about. Due to my professional background and my own lived experience, I do not flinch at strong stories, big emotions, or the parts of a life shaped in hard places. Many of the people I work with are trauma survivors, caretakers, members of the queer community, parents, artists, activists, or people who have lived multiple lives already. You do not have to soften yourself here. I stay curious about who you are, not just what happened to you.