About Me

I began my career in scholarly publishing at the University of Minnesota Press after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and American studies in 2007. My work with authors ignited my curiosity about how relationships develop, how people make sense of their worlds, and how writing and identity are so often fused together. I became deeply interested in blending psychoanalytic theory with how systems of oppression create trauma for many marginalized people.

In 2010 I founded a reading group that focused on contemporary psychoanalytic theory, and in 2011 I began volunteering at Walk-In Counseling Center as a receptionist and at the Neighborhood Involvement Program’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Center as a crisis counselor. In 2012, I enrolled in the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work program with an emphasis in clinical mental health.

Throughout that time, I continued my work at the University of Minnesota Press. I was promoted to Humanities Editor in 2014 (the first woman and youngest person to hold this position) where I became responsible for acquiring titles in a range of fields, including queer and trans studies, critical race and ethnic studies, feminist philosophy, disability studies, and childhood studies. Many of the books I acquired emphasize radical understandings of social justice and have gone on to win national and international awards.

I graduated with an MSW in 2016 and subsequently completed a two-year psychoanalytic psychotherapy fellowship at the Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. My training has also included local, national, and international seminars and consultations focusing on race and identity, working with trans clients, dissociation and trauma, feminist psychoanalysis, Kleinian psychoanalysis, mindfulness, and perinatal mental health, amongst other topics.

I have worked in private practice full-time since 2019 where I balance seeing individual clients, supervising LGSWs, and teaching. I also regularly run reading groups on topics such as gender and sexuality, race, and political engagement in psychoanalysis. Throughout my careers in publishing and psychotherapy, I have worked to deeply understand and challenge systems of oppression, especially white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, misogyny, and their myriad intersections.

License

  • Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, Minnesota, #25521

Education

  • Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program, Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, 2018

  • Master in Social Work, University of Minnesota, 2016

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Minnesota, 2007

Select Trainings Attended

  • Menopause Ed, Moss the Doula, August 2025

  • Live Online Mindful Self-Compassion, Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, June-August 2025

  • Tidelines: Shared Leadership Coaching Cohort, Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance, May-June 2025

  • Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals Training, Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance, May 2025

  • Improve with Improv!: Exploring Toolkits of Improvisation and Psychotherapy, Lisa Bany and Susan Schultz, Minnesota Society for Clinical Social Work, April 2025

  • Trauma as a Way of Life in a Psychoanalytic Institute, Charles Levin, Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, November 2024

  • On Taking Sides: Clinical Encounters with Nonbinary Genders, Avgi Saketopoulou, Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, February 2024

  • Advanced Clinical Supervisor Training, Minnesota State University, Mankato, April 2023

  • Working with Depressive and Self-Defeating Clients, Nancy McWilliams, Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, March 2023

  • Advanced Perinatal Mental Health Psychotherapy Training, Postpartum Support International, February 2023

  • Perinatal Mood Disorders: Components of Care, Postpartum Support International, February 2023

  • Mindful Self-Compassion Short Course, InsightLA, November-December 2022

  • Gender Identity: Advanced Clinical Skills, Janet Bystrom Micek, PrairieCare, June 2022

  • Integrating Ego State Interventions into Your Practice, Robin Shapiro, South Carolina Society for Clinical Social Work, February 2022

  • Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Healthcare Professionals, Center for Mindfulness, UMass Memorial Health, April-June 2021

  • A Black Feminist Psychoanalytics, Michelle Ann Stephens, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, February 2021

  • Radical Openness, Otherness, and Ethical Considerations in the Coparticipatory Process of Psychoanalysis, Anton Hart, Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, January 2021

  • Beyond 101: Negotiating and Utilizing Self in Supervisory Relationships, Christina Haddad Gonzalez, University of Minnesota, January 2021

  • Race, Black Bodies, and Psychodynamic Therapy, Lisa Moore, Hamm Clinic, October 2020

  • Contracted Clinical Supervision: Navigating the Balance of Transparency, Support, and Accountability, Christina Haddad Gonzalez, University of Minnesota, August 2020

  • Affective Neuroscience: The Motivating Role of Emotion for Healing and Change, Judith Hoy, University of Minnesota, August 2020

  • EMDR Phase 1, Monica O’Connell, Institute for Creative Mindfulness, January 2020

  • Grasping Fog: The Reflective Use of Self and Its Application in Social Work Supervision, Angela Lewis-Dmello, University of Minnesota, January 2020

  • Core Competencies in Social Work Supervision: Crucial Concepts and Skills, Christina Haddad Gonzalez, University of Minnesota, January 2020

  • Existing in One’s Own Heart and Mind: Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Complex Trauma, Jerry Lagamna, Minnesota Trauma Project, October 2019

  • Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Compassionate Ocean Zen Center, June-August 2019

  • Minneapolis Trans Equity Summit, October 2018

  • Challenging Moments in Trauma Treatment: Working with Complex Dissociation, Ruth Lanius, Minnesota Trauma Project, February 2018

  • The Fear of Feeling Real: Trauma and Dissociation, Richard Chevetz, Minnesota Trauma Project, October 2016

  • More than One Can Live: Reconceiving Harm and Reparation in the Intersubjective World, Jessica Benjamin, Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology, May 2016

Teaching

  • Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Gender, Race, Sexuality and Culture and Case Consult (6 weeks), Contemporary Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program, Minnesota Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, February 2025 - April 2025

  • Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Gender, Race, Sexuality and Culture (20 weeks), Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program, Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, March 2022 - February 2025

  • Gender and Sexuality in Psychoanalysis (10 weeks), Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program, Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Spring 2022

PRESENTATIONS

  • Guest lecturer, “Work in the ‘New’ Economy,” Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA, October 2022

  • Guest lecturer, “Transphobic Countertransferences,” MPSI Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program, Minneapolis, MN, April 2020

  • Co-Presenter with Dr. Ethan Grumbach, "Trans: How Much Do We Really Want to Know?" Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society Spring Conference, Edina, MN, March 2020

  • Guest lecturer, “Working Psychodynamically,” SW604 Methods of Clinical Social Work II, St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN, February 2019

  • Panelist, “Book Development Workshop: From Pitching an Idea to Finding a Publisher,” Modern Language Association, Chicago, IL, January 2019

  • Panelist, "The Value of Acquisitions,” American Association of University Presses, Philadelphia, PA, June 2016

  • Guest lecturer, "How to Craft and Submit a Winning Book Proposal,” National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity, 2015-2018

  • Guest lecturer, "What Does a University Press Do?" Institute for Advanced Study, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2015-2018

  • Panelist, "Object-Oriented Feminism Roundtable: The Fluid Future of OOF,” Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, Dallas, TX, October 2014

  • Guest lecturer, "What Does a University Press Do?" WRIT 5270 Writing for Publication, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2013-2015

Publications

  • Co-author, "Forerunners and Manifold: A Case Study in Iterative Publishing,” Journal of Scholarly Publishing 48, no. 2 (2017): 90-98