Taylor was raised by a single mother whose disorganized attachment styles and resulting lack of self-esteem lead to spirals of addiction through substance, spending, and relationships. Due to infidelity and arguments, her parents separated when she was 3 months old; leaving Taylor’s first models of relationships to be damaged and fragmented. Her mother struggled with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and suicidal ideation, and Taylor was often left to be cared for and raised by her grandmother. Taylor quickly developed tendencies to rescue her mother whether through unhealthy, abusive relationships with men, hostile and violent arguments between her mother and grandmother, and especially, as her mother turned to addiction through her early adolescent years.
Influenced by established codependent patterns, Taylor developed an early fascination with understanding depression and addiction; sure that there was something to be seen sooner and deeper than the reactive, rather than preventive, treatment responses that she witnessed through her mother’s attempts at recovery. Taylor recognized that the medications provided to her mother were only addressing the surface level symptoms, fueling her desire to turn towards a more whole approach tending to the roots of wounds and more immersive healing. She began to explore branches of healing ranging from Eastern to Western influences and found further insight into the work that she wanted to bring to others; taking on a sense of martyrdom and neglecting her own healing. Taylor was able to come to a crossroads of realizing that her patterns and choices were not reflective of the healing potential that she hoped to bring to others.
After realizing this, along with the impact that a relationship with nature had on her ability to regulate, Taylor took a break away from the field in order to heal and to expand her knowledge. Taylor has taken the last several years to learn more about land-based and social permaculture design, a self-sufficient lifestyle, and the patterns tied to intergenerational trauma unique to America. Her focus has been on resilience and allowing individuals, families, and groups to reach self-actualization; growing awareness of how trauma especially can interfere with this. She holds a strong desire to offer her experience to others in order to serve as a guide in allowing them to recognize these effects on their everyday lives to be able to incorporate reflective systems and design into their frameworks and build a more whole, healthy, and resilient lifestyle.