About Me

Before I ever sat across from a client, I was the kid who got bullied for being in a wheelchair. The one who never really had lunch money. The one who lived in a trailer with a hole in the floor and watched his family fall apart when my father passed away. I acted out in school because I did not know how to regulate my emotions. I did not understand my learning disability and told myself I was dumb.

I watched people I loved lose themselves to addiction. I could not always say what I felt. I was the angry wannabe rapper who eventually poured his frustration into lyrics about how unfair the world seemed. I found hope in stories. Power Rangers taught me that believing you can save the day is the most important piece. Wrestling showed me that we are all our own hero and our own villain, constantly deciding which one we want to be.

I dropped out of high school because no one seemed to care whether I succeeded or not. But I kept going anyway. Two degrees later, I became the first person in my immediate family to graduate from college. Most people I knew growing up told me I would never be anything, that there was no space for someone like me to be more than average. I had to learn that not everything is worth believing, but some things are. Like the belief that you can grow, that you can get better, and that life can become a little easier than it feels right now.