Education

Victoria has a Master’s degree in Counselor Education and Community Counseling from the University of Dayton, a Master’s degree in Nursing from Capital University, and a Post-master’s certificate in psychiatric mental health from the University of Cincinnati. She was licensed as an LPCC in Ohio and worked primarily in community mental health and corrections. She transitioned to nursing and worked as a psychiatric nurse at Twin Valley Behavioral Health with both acute and forensic patients prior to moving to Minnesota in 2017. She continued her work as a psychiatric nurse in the outpatient psychiatry clinic at the University of Minnesota residency clinic.  She is board-certified as an Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist and as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

Specialized Training

She completed Anchored Relational (formerly AIR network) training which is a modality focused on helping people with complex trauma.

Areas of Clinical Interest

Victoria has primarily been working in emergency psychiatry, seeing children, adolescents, adults, and older adults who present to the Emergency Department in crisis. Crisis intervention is somewhat of a specialty, and she finds fulfillment in being able to hold space for those who may be experiencing one of the worst days of their lives.

Personal Statement

I have always believed that we are all doing the best we can, given the circumstances we find ourselves in and the resources we have. Life can be difficult, and there are times when we may not know the way forward and feel stuck or overwhelmed. I want to be a partner in trying to figure out what the next steps are. I believe in the importance of breaking down goals into manageable steps. There are times when we just need to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, as long as we know what direction we are headed.

With having spent a couple of decades working as a therapist, I must confess that I have a bias towards therapy as the primary intervention for most mental and emotional disorders. There is certainly a place for medications though, and I believe that there are situations when optimal mental health can best be achieved through a combination of therapy and medications.  I also believe that working towards wellness is not a linear path – there will be times when we will be okay or even better than okay, followed by periods when our lives are not working so well, followed again by periods of wellness. It is important to keep in mind that healing looks more like a spiral, and we need to be able to hold on to the belief that our darkest days are not going to last forever. We will eventually see the light. And as my wise therapist told me in my own moments of despair, you are the light at the end of the tunnel.  It would be an honor to be a part of your journey.