Karen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Montana and California with over twenty years of experience working with children, adolescents, and families across school, outpatient, adoption, and community-based settings. She is passionate about helping children and families navigate adjustment concerns, anxiety, depression, attention challenges, school difficulties, and behavioral needs, recognizing how important it is for kids to grow up in a loving home.
She fell in love with play therapy after recognizing that children often don’t want to sit and talk through their feelings—they’d rather play them out. With tweens and teens, she uses games, art, and other creative approaches to help them engage and express themselves.
Karen believes in treating the whole family, not just the child, since a family is a system rather than a collection of separate parts. In her experience, parents often need support and guidance on how to help their child through whatever they’re facing, so she includes them as part of the process. She strives to meet the needs of both the child and the family, trusting that they already hold the strengths and resources to solve their own problems—after all, they are the experts on their own lives and experiences. Karen believes that feeling safe, supported, and understood is a vital part of the therapeutic process, and her approach is compassionate, collaborative, and tailored to each client’s unique needs and goals.
Karen is a Certified AutPlay® Therapy Provider with training in Sandtray therapy, Art therapy, Theraplay®, and Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). She is also a graduate of the Center for Adoption Support and Education’s Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) program. In addition to her clinical work, Karen provides supervision to clinicians pursuing credentials as Registered Play Therapists™ and Animal Assisted Play Therapists (AAPT)®, and she has guest lectured at several colleges on play therapy, animal-assisted therapy, and mental health.
Karen incorporates Bailey, her registered therapy dog, into most client sessions. Read more about Bailey and her qualifications below.
Bailey, a chocolate Labrador retriever born in July 2023, earned her approval through the International Institute for Animal Assisted Play Therapy® in 2026—making her the only AAPT-approved dog in Montana. She also holds her Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certificate and is registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC). Bailey enjoys working with clients of all ages and loves building relationships, solving
puzzles, playing hide and seek, and simply having fun. For more on AAPT and how Karen works with Bailey and Theo, her retired AAPT check out the links below.