Erica holds Bachelor’s degrees in English and Psychology as well as a Masters in Clinical Psychology. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Social Psychology. Erica practiced counselling in the United States since 2010, before to moving to New Zealand in 2020. She has worked in a variety of settings, including forensic mental institutions, community counselling centres, and private practice. She has counselled school aged children and adolescents, adults, and couples. She has had the pleasure of training and mentoring counsellors as well as building therapeutic programmes.
Erica believes that life is a journey and like all journeys it can hold both periods of beauty and pain. Sometimes we get mired in its complexities and have difficulty seeing a way free of the difficult places. She believes a counsellor’s duty is to walk alongside those in need, recognizing the imago dei in each other and in doing so helping them gain the confidence to reclaim the beauty, fullness and power of who the Lord created them to be. Her research interests align with these beliefs as she studies related concepts such as identity formation, the influence of culture and community on personhood, intergroup relationships and forgiveness. Her current PhD research focus is on individuals’ choice of acculturation strategies and how they affect intergroup relationships within minority cultures.
She was born and raised just outside of Chicago, Illinois, and has lived in every region of continental US since graduating from high school. She has been active in her church community; leading bible studies and workshops as well as involvement in international missions. She thoroughly enjoys growing and learning with new cultures and seeing how faith manifests with a variety that forms a compelling mosaic.
She has active human rights interests including those linked to gender and ethnicity. Prior to her move to NZ she was a S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) committee chair for the local branch of American Association of University Women where she and her team worked to support local girls in a rural community as they pursued their interests. She also taught workshops for foster parents who were integrating children of diverse cultural backgrounds into their families.
Erica enjoys travelling internationally both for vacation and missions. She can usually be found exploring nature with her husband whenever she is not curled contentedly around a good book and a cup of tea. She lives in Christchurch where she attends a local church with her husband Quentin.