I attended college at North Dakota State University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Emergency Management. I worked at a local homeless shelter for a year before transitioning into the graduate counseling program at Minnesota State University Moorhead where I completed a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I began teaching as an adjunct instructor in this program in 2019. I completed my internship at a local inpatient psychiatric hospital and was later hired full-time. I worked as an adult inpatient therapist and then transitioned into the Director of Performance Improvement and later the Director of Clinical Services. 

After managing a small caseload for a year, I left my full time job at the hospital and began my next chapter running my own private practice, Friend From Work, PLLC in 2024.