About Gina

A closet poet, I have always loved words. I am mesmerized by the irridescent layers of meaning that can shine through one perfectly chosen word. I can still vividly remember the woven, cloth-bound texture of my first book (Tasha Tudor's Mother Goose) on my bare legs as I held it open on my diapered lap. And, even then, I did my best to join the conversation, carefully adding my deliberate, inky scribbles to the faces of the beautifully illustrated characters.  

Fast forward to today, where as a Marriage and Family Therapist, I sit daily listening to the most intimate and compelling stories on earth, witness to the raw pain, joy, and transformation that pours out of my clients as they spill their innermost feelings and share their most sacred or shameful secrets. I hear and support them through the emotion-laden words and poignant silences that express their experience and begins the healing of their aching souls. I rejoice with them as they discover the ability to re-write the distorted mental scipts that have imprisoned them. I listen in awe as they create new, triumphant and powerful narratives that highlight previously unrecognized, sparkling moments of strength or resilience. Furthermore, the building of relationship bonds relies one hundered percent on an intricate alchemy of emotion and language which--in the proper combination--manifest in the intimacy of shared meaning-making. The right words, at the right time, can make the difference between despair or deliverance, destruction or delight. 

 So I was instantly attracted to NPR's The Race Card Project and its challenge of capturing the intensely individual experience of race within the parameters of a six-word story. And I longed to bring the same distillation of experience to the universal enigma of love. Which brought to life The Love Note Project as a way to combine this love of words, stories, and the depths of the human heart. Join me on this journey, and add your six-words to the story!    

Gina's skills and expertise were honed through a Master's Degree in Counseling from Idaho State University, which is consistently ranked one of the top Counselor Education Universities in the nation. Additionally, she personally studied with Dr. Sue Johnson, recognized by John Gottman as "the foremost couple's therapist in the world" and the originator of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), the most researched and effective approach to Couple's Therapy. Gina is certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors, and a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Idaho.