I’m Scott.

I work with adults and young adults (16+), covering a wide range of life and mental health issues. I have a special interest in working with elders who face unique experiences of retirement transitions, changes to physical and brain health, caregiving, death and loss, isolation, spirituality, and identifying meaningful choices in the face of our mortality.

I enjoy teaching a variety of skills to help people manage their distress a little better each day. I teach new and empirically validated understandings of how our minds and nervous systems work from the latest perspectives of neuroscience, psychology, and medicine. I also offer practical tools for developing a more healthy relationship with our thoughts and emotions. Further, I teach tools for reducing stress, calming the body and mind, improving sleep and eating, and enhancing connection to others and to a larger sense of purpose. Self-compassion and kindness are also at the center of my work. I have found this approach is particularly important for clients who face limited control in their lives. In these cases, the focus of therapy is often on developing effective self-care and a connection to spiritual or personal meaning.​

​Spirituality & Counseling

I have been practicing Buddhism and studying Buddhist psychology for many years, so clients who are looking for support from this perspective are welcome to bring these topics into our sessions. If you come from another spiritual tradition, be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism—or any other for that matter—I hold great regard and respect for your beliefs and want to actively discuss your values and ways of seeing the world in sessions together. Of course, if organized or personal spirituality need not be a major part of your life, I am glad to explore meaning and values that resonate for you individually.

​Outside of Counseling

Outside of counseling, I am a serious nature nerd in the mountains of Western North Carolina. I still love to make things, so I continue to build furniture, draw, sculpt, and take care of my home’s vegetable and native plant garden. Community will always be important to me; hosting dinner and game nights with my partner, or getting involved in neighborhood events are a regular part of my life. I have a Corgi-Red Heeler mix, named Gizmo, who is a fantastic trail buddy and just about the sweetest being I’ve ever met.​​​​

​Prior Professional Life

In my first professional life, I ran a graphic design and photography business, designed sets for a theatre and dance, and worked in community art festivals. This was deeply meaningful, fun, and engaging work for me. I helped others to connect to their creativity, form new relationships in their community, and create a sense of place and belonging. Life has a way of changing us, however. My own experiences of losing family and friends, of loving others with mental illness, and of merely living through the stresses of modern life, inspired me to change professions. Although I now serve others differently, I do so with the  same close attention, creativity, interest, flexibility, and openness honed in my earlier profession.