What is your background?
I grew up in Kansas, graduated as a KU Jayhawk in 2015, and lived in the Kansas City area most of my adult life. My wife, two cats and | just moved to Minnesota in 2024, and have been loving it here a lot! I didn’t plan to work in this field when I first graduated, but found a love for it after my first position working with vulnerable adults. I’ve been a job coach, a ghostwriter, a legal assistant, a barista, and a zipline instructor before finding my passion for programs like TLC!
What is your role at TLC?
As a PSA, I love that I get to work directly with our clients and learn all the little things about their lives that help them feel their best at our program. Being the hands-on aid to each client during their day means that I help them receive music, art, and rec therapy, make each activity accessible to their personal needs, weave aspects of their therapy goals into their day-to-day care between activities, and ensure they’re safe, clean, and happy while they’re in our care. I spend most of the day with our clients doing the same activities and seeing the program from their perspective. I use this along with creativity, silliness, and compassion to adapt our program to the needs every participant has, as well as their wants and interests. Sometimes this means taking note of someone’s favorite things, sense of humor, or talents so they can be worked into the program. Sometimes it means coming up with a game, conversation, or source of comfort that will make a mundane part of the day into a fun experience. Sometimes it means advocating for them, whether it’s about something serious or simple or seemingly unimportant to someone who doesn’t know them.
Why are you excited to work at TLC?
Getting to support, encourage, and inspire our clients to have a great day every day at TLC is what I love about working here! I really appreciate that what we center at this program is a therapeutic approach that is naturally catered to each unique client’s life through the lens of music, art, recreation, and relationship building. Watching our clients find new ways to succeed, explore the world, and express themself is what I get to do for a living, and that’s amazing!
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Outside of TLC, I play a lot of board games, video games, and tabletop roleplaying games! I have a huge board game collection, tons of D&D characters, and a bunch of other stereotypically nerdy stuff around my house. I also like to paint, draw, write, and bake! My two cats take up a lot of my time playing and cuddling, and when I’m not with them I love talking about my cats as well.
What is a fun fact about you?
my favorite animal is a frog!