About

About

I have 30+ years of experience as a cutting-edge, skilled, socially conscious counselor, consultant, relationship coach, and educator.

I am a European-American (Irish, German, and Roma Gypsy) cisgender older woman, an “out” lesbian for over 35 years, a survivor, an intersectional feminist, a single parent by creative means, an avid Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and MN Lynx Basketball fan, a community organizer and activist. I hail from a small conservative Catholic farming community in rural Minnesota. My mother was a schoolteacher, and my father was a dairy farmer. The farmstead was on land owned by the Anishinaabe, the Indigenous people who originally lived in this part of the Midwest. I am the third child of eight siblings. These identities, with all of their colliding lessons, inform my motivation and dedication to the services I provide, and the communities I choose to serve. – Irene

I firmly believe that the personal, is the professional, is the political. I adhere to a fundamental consciousness for how the layers of cultural and systematic oppression and trauma influence personal, interpersonal, and community health. And, conversely, how healing, empowerment, wellness, and wellbeing are nurtured by the human connection that is grounded in humanity, humility. justice, and equity. 

Services I offer

Whether I am providing relationship coaching, counseling, consultation, or presenting workshops, I offer a nonjudgmental, professional, and down-to-earth style that is layered with warmth, respect, and compassion. I approach my work from a holistic backdrop that takes into account the impacts of cultural and systemic oppression, injustice, and trauma – and the healing and unifying nature of connection with community and self. I am informed by decades of diverse training and direct service experiences.

Being self-employed provides me the opportunity to actively intertwine four of my passions:

• The privilege to work directly with people who want to make personal, relational, or professional changes using coaching or counseling.
• To create and facilitate support groups. Groups
• To engage with many different people by offering workshops and trainings and professional consultation
  • burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue
  • professional and personal self-care for mental health, social service, medical and education professionals
  • radical self-care, healing justice, and oppression fatigue for social justice activists and community organizers
    
• To actively volunteer in my communities. For example, I am the chair of the MN LGBTQ+ Therapists Network, past chair of the MN Coalition of Sexual Assault Services, past chair of the Seward Child Care Center, and a past Board Member of MN Women in Psychology.

Resources: As you look through my website, note the resource sections that include recommended readings (PDF), Minnesota and national organizations (PDF), and information related to coaching, self-growth and self-care, trauma, white-body privilege and racial equity, relationships, sexuality, LGBTQ+, burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue. These are topics that I routinely address in the direct service and educational services I offer. 

If any of my services are of interest to you, please contact me to arrange a complimentary 30-minute phone consultation. 

ALL OF MY SERVICES ARE CURRENTLY OFFERED ONLINE | TELEHEALTH