More Than the Sum of Our Roles
If you've found your way here, there's a good chance you're navigating a transition of your own.
Maybe you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, disconnected from yourself, or uncertain about what comes next. Perhaps you're carrying responsibilities that leave little room to pause and ask how you're really doing. Or maybe you've simply reached a point where the strategies that once helped you navigate life no longer seem to be working as well as they used to.
While our stories are different, I know something about reinvention, identity, and learning to navigate unfamiliar terrain.
About Lance
The Chapters That Shaped Me
Before becoming a counselor, I spent more than twenty years serving in the United States Marine Corps. I had the privilege of leading Marines, serving in combat, mentoring others through challenge and adversity, and helping people navigate difficult decisions under pressure. Along the way, I witnessed both the strength and resilience people are capable of, as well as the unseen costs of carrying burdens alone.
After the military, I taught writing and rhetoric at the collegiate level, helping students find their voice, think critically, and communicate more authentically. I also built businesses of my own, learning firsthand about risk, responsibility, success, disappointment, and the ways our identities can become intertwined with the roles we occupy.
Looking back, counseling wasn't a departure from the work I'd been doing throughout my life.
It was the place where all of those experiences finally came together.
Throughout each chapter, I found myself drawn to the same questions:
How do people change?
Why do we repeat patterns that no longer serve us?
How do we reconnect with ourselves when we've lost our way?
How do we become more intentional in the lives we're living?
Those questions eventually led me back to graduate school and into the counseling profession.
What I discovered was that the common thread running through every chapter of my life had been helping people better understand themselves and navigate meaningful change.
How I Approach Counseling
I believe people change when they begin to see themselves more clearly, understand the patterns that have been shaping their lives, and realize they have more agency than they thought.
Many of the strategies we rely on today developed for good reasons. They helped us adapt, protect ourselves, achieve success, avoid pain, or navigate difficult circumstances. The problem is that what once helped us survive can sometimes prevent us from fully living.
My role isn't to tell you who you should become.
It's to help you better understand who you are, where you've been, what matters most to you, and what choices are available moving forward.
Together, we'll work to increase self-awareness, develop practical skills, strengthen relationships, and create meaningful change that aligns with the life you want to build.
Beyond the Counseling Office
When I'm not meeting with clients, you'll often find me spending time with my family, working with my dogs, painting, writing, or enjoying the ordinary moments that remind me what matters most.
I believe growth doesn't happen only within counseling sessions. It happens in relationships, in moments of reflection, through meaningful work, and in learning to be present to the life we're already living.
Healing and growth rarely happen all at once. More often, they emerge through small acts of courage repeated over time—through choosing honesty over avoidance, curiosity over judgment, and intention over autopilot.
Professional Background
Licensed Professional Counselor (Kansas)
M.Ed. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
M.A. in English
Certified Family Business Advisor trained in Bowen Family System Theory
United States Marine Corps Veteran
Former College Instructor in Writing and Rhetoric
Entrepreneur and Small Business Owner
to walk alongside you as you author the next chapter of your becoming.
An Invitation
You don't have to have everything figured out before reaching out for help.
Whether you're navigating anxiety, relationship challenges, life transitions, questions of identity and purpose, or simply hoping to understand yourself more clearly, counseling can provide a space to slow down, reflect honestly, and move forward with intention.
I'd be honored to walk alongside you as you author the next chapter of your becoming.