I am a part-time Crisis and Access Specialist for ProtoCall Services, Inc. In this role, I staff employee assistance program lines, university counseling lines, and local crisis lines around the country, including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. My role requires me to quickly and efficiently assess my callers' needed level of care, stabilize them through safety planning and solutions-focused interventions, and refer them to appropriate resources for ongoing support. I work closely with my colleagues and supervisors to ensure that callers receive comprehensive attention that supports all their immediate mental health needs. My work with ProtoCall Services has made me more confident not only in my crisis intervention skills but in all areas of my life.

I am the founder and executive director of The Safe Haven Network, a grass-roots nonprofit organization that helps domestic violence survivors and their pets overcome obstacles to escaping abuse.  I have worked on this project since 2011, with the help of many passionate and dedicated volunteers and allied professionals along the way.  My natural exuberance and passion has facilitated my success in connecting resources and partners across the Chicagoland area to weave a "safety net" of support for domestic violence survivors, both human and pet. I am proud to have raised enough awareness around this issue that The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence - a collaboration of over 40 diverse organizations in the metropolitan Chicago area dedicated to ending domestic violence, sexual violence, and human sex trafficking - started providing pet-related services to all Chicagoans and will be assuming operations of the Safe Haven Network Referral Program this year.

I completed one semester of my Masters of Social Work at the Jane Addams School of Social Work at University of Illinois - Chicago before moving back to Michigan. I am currently enrolled in the University of Michigan School of Social Work and will graduate with my masters degree in July 2023.