ABOUT ME
Hi! My name is Dena. I feel so honored to create a safe, authentic space for young adults to dream, process, and grow. I have been working in a counseling setting for roughly a decade. I started as a career counselor in higher education, then moved to college counseling where I helped high school students identify their strengths and personalities in order to empower them on their path to educational and personal fulfillment. In exploring my own story, I learned that sometimes we need to understand and heal our beginnings in order to move forward and thrive. So, I’ve shifted focus and done extensive training in order to help others explore their core issues.
I love adventure and traveled the country coast-to-coast with my husband and our four girls in our minivan for a year. I love finding ways to incorporate beauty into everday moments and keep fresh flowers on my kitchen table most days. I think it would be a good idea for water skiing to be an olympic sport and I love to haul wood in my backyard while my two dogs – a huge one and a tiny one – run around me. I tend to laugh and smile the most behind the boat tubing, during dance parties, playing a fun game like Kuub or around the table with close family and friends and delicious food. I like to challenge myself to learn something new, like tennis or cross-country skiing, and I don’t mind looking a bit silly while I’m doing it.
I love Jesus and believe that it is relationship, not religion, that redeems our hurts, anger, unforgiveness and illusions. My faith informs the work that I do, and you can choose how and when and if this plays a part of our time together. I believe in grace for ourselves and for others. We all have equal value and a voice worthy to be heard. It’s ok to make mistakes. I love working with young adults to help them create a courageous life characterized by kindness to themselves and others.
I have an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth in Interpersonal Communication and a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Bethel University. After passing the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Exam and as a pre-licensed practitioner, I have the privilege of sitting at one of my own wisdom tables with my supervisor, Sarah Barrett, LICSW.