I grew up in south Florida and then moved to Tallahassee to complete my undergraduate degree at Florida State University (FSU). I returned to FSU to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology with Dr. Thomas Joiner as my mentor. As part of my doctoral program, I completed an eating disorder-focused clinical internship at the University of Chicago Medical Center. I then worked as a professor in the psychology department at North Dakota State University (NDSU) for ten years. At NDSU, I mentored graduate students, taught courses on child and adult psychopathology, and published disordered eating and suicidal behavior research. I left academia in 2018 to work as a therapist. I co-host Jedi Counsel podcast, which discusses psychological science through fictional characters, current events, and interviews. I also write for a Psychology Today blog called Out of the Ivory Tower. I am writing a book about coping with suicidal thoughts for New Harbinger.