Lisa is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and Equine Experiential Learning Facilitator, a form of animal assisted therapy. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy with emphasis in grief counseling and the Human-Animal Bond.

In addition to her Equine Experiential Learning work, Lisa is a professional studio artist and educator. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in metalsmithing and jewelry from New Mexico State University, and her Master of Fine Arts Degree in metalsmithing from State University of New York at New Paltz. Lisa has exhibited her work and taught in university art programs throughout the United States over the past fifteen years. She maintains her studio, and teaches art/metalsmithing at The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Lisa is the creator/owner of Pet Reliquaries, which creates unique, custom designed memorials which honor human-animal relationships. Pet reliquaries has recently been featured in an article about animal memorialization in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and is advertised nationally in Bark Magazine and Modern Dog Magazine.

To learn more about Lisa’s artwork visit her website at: www.petreliquaries.com

"I am meant to be with horses", Lisa explains, "I came into the world feeling their importance, and at a very young age began to study horses and ride them. I started riding American Saddlebreds when I was eight and continued riding them competitively into my twenties. I was not able to connect comfortably with people as a girl, I always felt like an outsider in some way, always hiding those parts of myself I felt were unacceptable to people. I connected powerfully with the horses. With the horses I felt whole, able to express myself authentically without hiding. The horses made me feel that I had a legitimate place in the world, they gave me the experience of being valued for all that I am, with them I felt safe and powerful. My relationship with them, especially in riding, connected me with my body in a way that has supported me throughout my life. They taught me how to be fully in my body, and to cultivate it’s skill, and grace, and power. The profound teachings and emotional intelligence I learned through my relationship with horses created the skill and confidence necessary for me to come into relationship with people. The horses lead me to trust in my relationship with the world, and my place in it."