I am a certified speech and language pathologist and the owner of Holistically Speaking. When I began practicing in 2008, I felt completely prepared to take on the world of speech and language therapy. I had all the theories and was set to go. However, life had a massive lesson for me. I was faced with a population of young children who were extremely dysregulated. I realized early on, that achieving speech and language goals in that state of being was going to be a long and strenuous process.

As I started to look deeper, it became clear to me that anxiety and the fight/flight response are the common denominators in these children. That was the turning point in my career. At that moment, I realized that I cannot effectively treat the fine motor action of speech or the higher-level skill of language/communication with clients who had their foot on the pedal and were stuck in fight/flight. With time and collaboration with conventional and alternative providers, regulation became the goal of my treatment so that speech and language can develop holistically. It is my passion to work with families, along with a team of specialized providers, to help support my clients to get their foot off the pedal and effectively regulate their nervous systems. In this state, true speech and language gains begin.