The word “pathfinder” has many meanings. I grew up in a military family, and my father was an army pathfinder, trained to navigate through turbulent times and extreme conditions. As a pathfinder, his job was to determine the best way to lead a group of soldiers and guide them safely and successfully to complete missions. For our family, this meant moving to a new city every three to four years. While I didn’t realize it at the time, I too was a pathfinder. As we moved from base to base, I often found myself exploring untraveled territory, charting my own path through new schools, cities, people and cultures. Figuring out a way to adapt quickly and find acceptance and community among my peers was important — and it was not always easy. 

This journey for understanding and acceptance eventually led me to become a licensed clinical mental health counselor, with a focus on children and adults on the autism spectrum. I received my Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Western Carolina University, and eventually established a private practice. Over the course of my career, I have acted as a consultant, travelling extensively throughout the U.S., Canada and England to educate families on the usefulness of play as a way to socialize and teach. But while on my path within the autism community, I noticed several of my families and their children to show drastic improvements in their overall functioning. I discovered that these families were also incorporating neurofeedback into their treatment programs. Thus, my passion for neuroscience and neurofeedback began. 

Just as in life, there are many paths, paradigms and theories in the mental health field that suggest how to treat individuals. After specializing in play therapy and also seeing firsthand the impact that brain training can have on the health and wellbeing of patients, it became clear that my path was to help others by merging the practice of counseling and an understanding of the brain.

In 2012, I began using neurofeedback to help adolescents struggling with the symptoms of trauma in residential treatment centers in North Carolina. Over the years, I witnessed the type of change that is possible when combining talk and play therapy with a true understanding and training of the brain. This journey led me to establish Pathfinder Neurocounseling in 2019. It is my hope to make the life-changing practice of neurofeedback accessible for everyone, and to help patients chart their own paths toward wellbeing.