Soon I will celebrate over twenty two years as a licensed and national board certified counselor providing counseling services to gifted, profoundly gifted, and twice exceptional (2e) children, gifted, profoundly gifted, and twice exceptional (2e) adolescents and teens, and gifted, profoundly gifted, and twice exceptional (2e) adults, couples and families. In addition to my grounded professional training, the foundation of my practice is my lifetime of experience within my own gifted family, gifted friendships, and creative and fulfilling learning environments and workplaces.
The families who seek counseling services for gifted children do so for a variety of reasons. Often, gifted and creative students, who naturally love learning, find displeasure with school and have trouble both engaging and finding meaning in their school experience. Gifted children, like gifted people of all ages, tend to struggle with their intense, sensitive, and perfectionistic gifted natures. Gifted counseling provides time and space for gifted children to sort through these gifted challenges, strengthen their authentic sense of self, and find a sense of calm. Gifted families also frequently seek gifted counseling services to foster a more harmonious gifted family environment. Gifted teens and gifted adults tend to use gifted counseling services to explore and clarify authentic self-understanding.
My approach is ideal for gifted children, adolescents, teens and adults who are twice exceptional (2e) or multi-exceptional because we work together to look beyond “disability” to identify and integrate the strengths and benefits that accompany twice-exceptionality and neurodiversity, thus fostering healthy intrinsic esteem and mental health.
When I begin my counseling work with gifted people, we look closely at the lives they are living and discuss the lives they wish to create for themselves. We examine life circumstances and challenges and work together to address the realities and impacts of gifted characteristics, gifted intensities, gifted perfectionism, gifted sensitivities, gifted asynchrony, gifted personality development, and gifted existential dilemmas. For gifted children, this process happens though play, art, experiential methods, and talk, depending on the child’s nature and interests. For gifted teen and adult clients, this process happens through talk, experiential means, and art, depending on their natures and interests. For gifted family counseling, this process happens through experiential methods and talk.
My counseling knowledge stems from my own giftedness and intellectual and creative interests, which are wide-ranging. With honors, I completed a top-tier, CACREP-accredited Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education graduate program. I also maintain longstanding supervisory and mentor relationships and have trained intensively with a renowned psychological theorist. I bring gifted self-awareness and gifted authenticity to my work. And yet, and because of this grounded gifted gravitas, my work with gifted clients of all ages is free to be light, strengths-based, and progressive.
Under the right circumstances, and with an experienced and skilled gifted counseling practitioner, gifted children, gifted adolescents, gifted teens, gifted adults, and gifted families can all deeply benefit from gifted counseling services. Finding the right therapeutic match at the right time is as crucial as finding the right educational or workplace environment.
Please contact me if you would like to schedule a phone consultation to learn more about my gifted counseling services. I work with gifted individuals and gifted families in my Boulder counseling office, my Denver Gifted Development Center office, or my Vail, Colorado counseling office, and when appropriate via electronic conferencing.