Teaching, Speaking & Workshops

My work as an educator, facilitator, and speaker is grounded in the belief that language is not just a tool for communication. It is a structure that shapes perception, meaning, and the way we move through the world. My approach is less about delivering knowledge and more about creating spaces for deeper engagement, critical inquiry, and transformative dialogue.

I have two decades of university teaching experience across the United States and Europe. I also have extensive work facilitating expressive writing workshops for frontline workers, veterans, faith communities, and trauma-impacted individuals. I specialize in designing environments where conversations emerge that can challenge assumptions, deepen understanding, and offer new ways of thinking through complexity. Whether in a university classroom, a hospital, or an arts space, my role is to help others engage more precisely, more openly, and more meaningfully with language and inner-experience.

Selected Experience & Engagements

• University & Academic Teaching
  As a faculty member at Middle Tennessee State University, I teach courses in writing, rhetoric, literature, and meaning-making. I guide students through the structures that shape narrative, perception, and argument. My teaching emphasizes discussion, critical reading, and the exploration of how language forms and informs thought.
• Expressive Writing & Healing
  Through The Iona Initiative, I facilitate writing workshops designed for those navigating trauma, transition, and high-stress environments. These workshops have served healthcare workers, veterans, educators, and crisis responders, offering structured writing practices that help individuals process experiences and reclaim agency through language.
• Public & Private Workshops
  I facilitate narrative medicine and reflective writing workshops in collaboration with universities, medical institutions, arts organizations, and faith-based groups. Each offering is adapted to the unique needs of its participants, integrating research from linguistic health, narrative medicine, and trauma studies to make expressive writing practically usable in real-world contexts.
• Conferences, Panels, & Keynotes
  I speak on topics including the intersection of language and trauma, the power of narrative in healing, and the role of creative process as a tool for navigating personal and collective crisis. I bring an interdisciplinary approach to delivering a keynote, participating in a panel, or leading a discussion, that bridges philosophy, literature, cognitive science, and lived experience.

I am available for university lectures, public speaking engagements, workshop facilitation, and collaborative program development. If you are looking for a speaker or facilitator who fosters deep engagement and meaningful conversation, I welcome the opportunity to discuss how we might work together.