I am a communication scholar by training and a relationship expert by focus. While my foundation is in writing, public speaking, and applied communication, my work has always centered on relationships—how we relate to ourselves, our partners, our families and friends, our colleagues, and the systems around us. As a social scientist, I take a holistic approach, drawing from communication studies alongside sociology, psychology, philosophy, and other disciplines that help explain how communication and relationships shape our well-being - in both constructive and destructive ways.

As an ethnographic researcher, I believe you learn the most by being in the room—listening closely, observing carefully, and witnessing how people actually communicate under pressure, in relationships, and in moments of change. My research never stayed confined to a lab: It lived in shelters, addiction treatment centers, support groups, classrooms, police departments, courtrooms, and community organizations. Long before I taught or trained others, I learned from survivors, students, advocates, and professionals doing this work on the ground.

My academic path took shape as a graduate student at the University of Kansas, where I studied relational health and began collaborating with a domestic violence shelter, a rape crisis center, and an addiction treatment center. Together, we worked to bridge services and better support individuals experiencing co-occurring issues and layered trauma. That work fundamentally shaped my perspective and ignited my commitment to understanding relationships along a continuum—from healthy, thriving connections to relationships marked by conflict, coercion, abuse, and violence. It also reinforced my belief in the importance of trauma-informed care and an advocacy approach.

Over more than 15 years of research, I studied the communication patterns that shape our closest relationships: the small lies we tell to keep the peace, the habits that build or erode trust, the ways people seek support, and the systems that either help or hinder access to safety and healing. My scholarly specialties include intimate relationships, gender and sexuality, conflict, supportive communication, and what communication scholars call “the dark side” of relationships—aggression, manipulation, toxicity, and violence—alongside the strengths people use to survive and rebuild.

As a professor, I taught, mentored, and coached thousands of students, faculty, and professionals across three universities, earning seven awards for teaching and mentoring excellence. I guided people through conflict resolution, interpersonal communication, and public speaking—and through the difficult conversations that change relationships, careers, and lives. I’ve also conducted dozens of trainings and workshops for nonprofits, for-profits, and government agencies, including serving as an expert witness for criminal and civil cases and as a trainer for organizations such as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the military and other government agencies, domestic violence & addiction treatment agencies, and juvenile justice teams. I’ve also completed over 300 hours of trauma-informed care and victim advocacy training and hundreds of hours of direct service, helping more than 1,000 survivors move toward safety, health, and stability.

And I never stop learning from new contexts and from new angles.

Today, I’m a once-tenured professor turned full-time helper and personal research nerd. I bring together communication, relationships, and gender-based violence work to coach individuals through relationship challenges, communication patterns, self-esteem barriers, abuse recovery, and finding their voice. I train teams and organizations to communicate clearly, respond to trauma responsibly, and create safer, healthier cultures. And I continue to advocate for survivors through expert witness work and systems-level consulting.

Every part of my journey has prepared me to do the work I’m doing now: helping people move through the fray with clarity, confidence, and connection.