As a Digital Wellness Educator, I help families, schools, and communities create healthier relationships with technology. I draw on both professional expertise and parenting experience—grounded in a commitment to mental health—to offer support that’s compassionate, realistic, and rooted in both lived experience and science.

I am first and foremost a lifelong learner and educator. Over the past three decades, I’ve worked at the intersection of children, technology, and learning—always with a focus on promoting literacy and meaningful human connection. As an early elementary library media specialist, a parent of two grown sons, and someone continually examining my own relationship with technology, I’ve seen how screens can both enrich and distract our lives.

My path to digital wellness evolved through many life experiences. I began in natural resource management, landed in high-tech mapping, managed technology in a private school, and spent many years in a family business—an experience that taught me valuable lessons about boundaries, communication, and well-being. Eventually, I found my home in a public school library, where my love of information, curiosity, and passion for health and relationships now come together in my work.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, cycling, reading, experimenting in the kitchen, and walking my chocolate lab, Teddy.

Ilene can be reached at
ilene@gaiacounseling.com