My path in life is significantly guided by having an abortion as a 15-year-old girl living in rural Wisconsin. When I started college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013, I decided to try volunteering with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. Through this work, I became connected to others with abortion stories and began to understand the impact of abortion stigma on their wellbeing—and my own.

This led me to pursue paths in therapy, scholarly research, and training with a focus on how dominant sociocultural narratives impact our pregnancy and family-building desires, decisions, and experiences—particularly as they relate to our mental health.

Prior to working at the intersection of abortion and mental health, I was a fellow with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin and Population Connection, the co-chair of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Health Center Advocacy Board, the president of the UW-Madison Planned Parenthood-affiliated student organization (which won the Generation Action Excellence Award for Outstanding Student Organization in 2015), and helped fundraise for the local Wisconsin abortion fund, WMF. I also worked for Plan C, developing their volunteer program.

I recently (August 2024) finished my PhD in Counseling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed my pre-doctoral internship (AKA residency for psychologists) at the University of Utah Counseling Center.

Click here to learn more about my work as a therapist.

I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology (Clinical/Counseling) at Lawrence University—a small liberal arts college in Appleton, Wisconsin. I am affiliated with the UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity and was a 2021-2022 Emerging Scholar with the Society of Family Planning. I recently published an academic paper expanding beyond the concept of “abortion stigma,” proposing the concept of “reproductive objectification” alongside my colleagues, Oliva Checkalski and Sarah Gervais. I am also working with a group of psychologists and graduate students to develop the American Psychological Association’s first-ever professional practice guidelines on sex and reproduction.

Click here or download my CV to learn more about my work as a scholar.

I am a leader at the intersection of abortion and mental health. I have been quoted in the Los Angeles Times and ELITE Daily, developed the “Abortions & Mental Health” zine displayed at the Field Project in Brooklyn, NY, and have been featured on numerous podcasts. I was the Executive Director of Exhale Pro-Voice from 2021 to 2023, serving as a conduit between the abortion and mental health spaces. Building on my twelve years of theater and Forensics, for the past four years, I have facilitated trainings and developed curricula for undergraduate and graduate students, mental health professionals, and lay persons, as well as abortion doulas, abortion providers, and hotlines like the Exhale Pro-Voice After-Abortion Textline and HRSA National Maternal Mental Health Hotline.

To learn more or request a training of your own, click here.

I believe that if my 15-year-old self could see me now that I would be in awe of how far we have come—transforming the pain of stigma into growth, empathy, community, and a deep commitment to finding new paths toward liberation.