About the Founder

I am happy to share more aspects of my personal story during the presentations as it relates to the materials. In short, I was born in San Diego in 1965 and moved around a lot as a child. I was always the outsider trying to fit into the new crowd of kids. This was most prevalent when I began sailing in St. Pete, Fl in the mid-70's. We didn't belong to the main yacht club and didn't have fancy cars. I only became a problem when I began winning. Its easy to like whoever comes in last.

I began sailing in 1975 in a heavy and slow fiberglass boat. But I began to win in December 1975 when my dad bought me a used, competition level wooden pram. I guess I learned well in the "tub." 1976 - 1978 were the best years after placing 2nd @ 1976 Optimist Pram Nationals & 2nd in the 1977 Florida State Championships. I also took 5th place in the 1977 USODA Nationals. In 1978 I was named the 1st alternate for the US National Junior Sailing Team after taking 5th place in two of the three US Team Trials weekends. Unfortunately, I could not compete in the middle weekend of the trials as I didn't have a boat. It was through sailing in those early days that taught me to NEVER GIVE UP!

We moved again after a few years and was the outsider in preppie Connecticut. The outsider issue was definitely amplified. My first day of school was picture day and I couldn't have looked more out of place. They wore boat shoes, but never stepped on a boat. The bullying was pretty bad there and I was knocked unconscious during finals of my freshman year. Luckily, I had a few close friends and started taking tennis serious. I was thrilled to move to Colorado and continued playing tennis and learning to ski. This was a personal challenge after breaking my leg in CT on the 3rd night ever skiing. I attended Columbine High School, class of '83, and joined the ski club. I was left to learn on my own as everybody was so good. Unfortunately, our school became a focal point in our country's history in 2001 and became a driving force behind STAHRS now. Dave Sanders was one of my teachers and a coach when I was there in the early 80's. My clients taught me how witnessing family violence, feeling ostracized, and experiencing bullying can make kids angry, which may come out in revenge & retaliation.

College brought new adventures, including learning to play racquetball, rather than just playing tennis in a box in the winters. I came out of college a B player and rose up through the A's and began teaching at Lakewood Athletic Club. I was ready to play A's and Open, but never played another tournament match after our son was born and we moved to Scotland a year later. Two years later our daughter was born in Paisley.

After a dozen years of working with mentally ill adults and developmentally disabled adults in community based residential support and vocational training, we returned to Denver in the summer of 2001 for graduate school. There were many Columbine students in the freshman psych class for which I was a graduate assistant. It was very fulfilling to help them move ahead after such a horrific tragedy. We discussed many aspects of their experiences and worked on anxiety reduction to help alleviate the negative affects of the trauma.

Graduate school introduced me to the field of domestic violence counseling & treatment with court-ordered men, women, and teens. STAHRS was born on Valentine's Day 2018 after 16 years of private practice and contract work in the DV field. It really came at the urging of my male clients in particular. It seemed appropriate to start a nonprofit organization with the mission to teach high school children about healthy relationships using the materials I was using with the adults on probation and teens in diversion programs.

I still try to play competitive racquetball (more doubles than singles) after 2 hip replacements (airports are fun), and I may always grieve that "we're never as good as we used to be"!!!

Now I have the honor and privilege to help our active duty members and their families to heal from family violence and traumatic childhoods as a licensed mental health counselor for the US Navy and Air Force at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam.
Yes, Pearl Harbor!!! How cool is that???!

Most important about my current role is that I can have a positive effect on the young men and women serving our country and protecting our freedoms. My goal is to help them have happy and healthy families and to keep them out of the court system. I will continue to try to find ways to reach our school children through STAHRS.