Lori received her Masters of Science degree in Counseling and Human Services in 1996 from South Dakota State University. She became a Licensed Professional Counselor in South Dakota in 1997.
Lori completed her training for divorce mediation at Erickson Institute in Minneapolis, MN in 1995. Erickson Institute is known as one of the best training facilities in the country for mediation.
In 1997, Lori received training by Dr. Bruce Fisher for Rebuilding When Your Relationship Ends. Dr. Fisher is an author and creator of this program. Rebuilding is a step by step program designed to help people heal from the ending of a relationship, either due to divorce or death. Rebuilding has been used across the country in churches, community centers and private practices.
Lori received certification in Divorce Busting, a program designed and taught by author Michelle Weiner-Davis in 1999. Divorce Busting is a solution-focused form of therapy for marriage enhancement. This technique allows couples to work on their marriage without staying stuck in the past, but rather building on the inherent strengths of the relationship to create a better, stronger and more fulfilling marriage.
Lori worked for the Watertown School District as Character Education Coordinator from 1999 through 2002. Lori was coordinator of the three year grant to implement character education in the Watertown School District, focusing primarily on the Watertown Middle School. While working on this grant, Lori also provided counseling services to students at the middle school.
Lori began her training for becoming a certified life coach in 2006. She attended the Institute of Life Coach Training.
Lori has attended numerous workshops on a variety of topics to maintain her licensure and to strengthen her expertise in areas such as sexual abuse, grief and loss due to miscarriage or still-birth, parenting, weight management, ethics, depression, anxiety and divorce adjustment for children and adults, to name a few. This spring she will be attending the National Conference for the American Counseling Association in Honolulu, HI.
Lori has written several articles for the newspaper, presented to groups on a variety of topics and is listed on the Speakers Forum for the South Dakota Counseling Association.
She is a member of the South Dakota Counseling Association, the Couteau Chapter of the SDCA, the American Counseling Association and the Conflict Resolution Association, Family Mediation Chapter. She is currently coordinating the creation of a South Dakota Mediation Council to bring mediators across the state together to further the education and awareness of mediation to the residents of South Dakota.
Lori is the mother of three sons and two step-sons. She has been happily married to her husband Jim for 7 years. Lori has been a fitness instructor for 23 years. Currently, she teaches yoga and cardio fitness classes at the Watertown Community Recreation Center.
Lori is dedicated to providing quality, compassionate care for her clients. She holds her clients in high esteem, always treating them respectfully and assuring them their care will be confidential, professional and ethical at all times.