Karen was born and raised in a Muslim developing country where her family practiced Taoism, Buddhism, idol worship, and ancestral worship. As a young adult, she left that country in 1995 to pursue her bachelor’s at Western Michigan University. Within two months of being in Michigan, she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal LORD and Savior and became the first generational curse breaker in her paternal and maternal lineage. At that point, she sensed a calling to life-long work as a clinical social worker.
Karen earned her Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communications from Western Michigan University (1997) and the Master of Social Work (MSW) from Utah State University (2014). Since 1996, she worked with at-risk children and adolescents at residential home treatment centers in Michigan and Idaho. In Utah, she was employed at the Social Program at Utah State University from 2008 to 2017. Within nine years, she was rapidly promoted from being a Staff Assistant to teaching BSW-level practicum courses and supervising interns.
Since 2016, as a clinical Social Worker in Utah, her specialty includes Christian Counseling and providing trauma-informed psychotherapeutic services to victims of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual abuse, and working with individuals (adults, adolescents, and children), couples, and families struggling with issues including mental and/or family conflicts, grief, posttraumatic stress, personality disorders, depression, severe mood swings, depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity, separation anxiety, and oppositional defiance.
She recognizes the importance of appreciating a person’s biological, psychological, social, and spiritual strengths and struggles. Combining Christian faith, Biblical truth, and knowledge and experience with psychological techniques, she meets her individual clients where they are mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Then, she and her clients will journey together to find what best fits them as they move towards new and healthy ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Her treatment approach is borrowed from a combination of different theories and modalities, including those that recognize the importance of tie person’s past experiences, family dynamics, and patterns of functioning. With God’s guidance, she carefully customizes the treatment to meet her client’s unique needs while valuing each one as a unique individual.
Her hobbies include worshipping God, prayer, cooling, gardening, hosting parties, photography, painting, spending quality time with her husband, and watching her son lead worship, and play various musical instruments and sports.
Call 801-317-4410 or email karen@bhccc.org to schedule an appointment