My nursing career began in 2010, after obtaining my BSN from Gonzaga University. I was able to spend the first part of my professional life in long term and transitional care; working as a Certified Nursing Assistant, before graduating.

I moved to the hospital setting in 2012 and worked in the float pool. This gave me the opportunity to have a wide range of experiences in a variety of hospital settings and specialties. I have always been invested in psychiatry and psychology and finally found a home in Adolescent Psychiatry at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, WA. It wasn’t long before I saw a real need for community mental health to help people stay out of the hospital. So, I went back to Gonzaga to earn my Doctorate in Nursing Practice so as to help those with mental health needs within our community. While at Gonzaga, I continued to work inpatient adult and adolescent psychiatry while being a clinical preceptor for the Gonzaga Bachelors of Science in Nursing students, facilitating their acute psychiatry clinical rotation at Eastern State Hospital. Once graduated I worked at Excelsior Family Medicine in outpatient psychiatry, working closely with the medical team. 

My training includes psychiatric assessment, diagnosis, and treatment including medication management, mental health promotion, and psychotherapeutic techniques that include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Positive Psychology, and Behavioral Activation. Care coordination with Primary Care and other necessary entities is additionally helpful to build a more cohesive treatment plan when possible.

If one really wants to know more, I am a husband and father and enjoy toiling in the yard, drumming until exhausted, very loud and quiet music, board games, being in quiet spaces, being alone and with others, being in the forest or the hills, and generally enjoy being safe and well prepared.