About Ann - Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate

I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University over 23 years ago while expecting my first child. After pausing my education to embrace full-time motherhood, I made a significant career pivot in 2023, relocating to Colorado to pursue my Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Colorado State University. I graduated in May 2025 (Go Rams!) after completing all coursework, practicum, and internship requirements. In July 2025, I became a Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate (LPCC) in the state of Colorado. This journey has been deeply rewarding—I've gained valuable insights into my therapeutic approach, particularly in trauma-informed care, and I am excited to continue growing, both personally and professionally, as a therapist.

Over the years, I’ve been drawn to experiences and jobs that have strengthened my innate desire to empower others to heal and thrive. This journey includes roles such as a volunteer for a county Crisis line, an educator on a school district behavior support team, a paraprofessional in an Autism unit, and a trauma-informed manager and caregiver for at-risk youth at a residential treatment center. Most recently, I completed my clinical internship at Pelletier Counseling as a Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate, where I had the opportunity to support a diverse range of clients utilizing a therapeutic approach to navigate complex trauma, challenging life transitions, and relational struggles. While still a work in progress, my developing proficiency in trauma-informed care allows me to counsel others toward strength and authenticity. This work truly lights me up!

As a Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate, I am uniquely positioned to help clients navigate major life transitions, relational problems, divorce, parenting challenges, complicated grief and loss, addiction, disordered eating, religious trauma, self-abandonment, and overall feelings of being stuck. I strongly believe in the power of DBT and its practical, skills-based therapeutic approach to building emotional regulation (the magical pause) and resilience. My interest extends to the neurobiology behind our protective responses—how our fight-or-flight system shapes behavior and how, with intention and support, we can rewire those patterns and beliefs. My work is informed by self-compassion therapy and the principles of Internal Family Systems, which embrace the concept that all parts of us are welcome and that healing grows through compassionate curiosity and connection with our inner world. Additionally, I draw on attachment theory to help clients understand how early relationships influence the ways we connect, set boundaries, and respond to conflict. Rooted in trauma-informed care, my approach centers on giving clients voice and choice in the process, reframing the question from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What happened to me?”—and ultimately, “What’s possible for me now?”