My Story

My professional story begins almost 30 years ago, when I decided to study the impact that death and loss have on the us. Having experienced important losses in my own life, I set upon a journey to discover how society processes loss, including what we define as a "normal grief reaction."  Of particular interest to me in the recovery process, is how we can incorporate losses in our lives, so that we create a future that includes that loss, but is not permanently thwarted by it.  To that end, I went back to college and obtained a Bachelors' Degree in Psychology, with a minor in Women's Studies, followed by a Master's in Social Work. In addition to my academic degrees, I have formally studied Imago Therapy and Voice Dialogue, Creative Grief Coaching.

In my  private practice, I have worked with people who have experienced all kinds of losses: death of a loved one, death of a child, loss of health, chronic and/or terminal diagnoses, loss of youth, life style changes and many, many other losses. I am especially concerned about how traditional approaches to loss can pathologize the person who has experienced loss and put time frames on the healing process. I work with people who have experienced ambiguous loss, which is to say, losses that are discounted in more traditional definitions of loss. This work has been some of the most rewarding work I have done throughout my career. I have studied with faculty of The Creative Grief Studio and am trained to use creative tools to address grief and loss. I have also done extensive leadership programs well known world-wide, to develop myself and others. 

In addition to my therapeutic practice, I have worked in educational settings, specifically alternative education. I bring an expertise in working with emotionally disturbed students where I designed the clinical services and program development. Also, I have  worked with students looking to hold leadership positions, and my team has trained hundreds of students and young adults in areas of public speaking, the developing and running of student government, team building, creating and managing contexts to build teams, event planning and fund raising. Students with whom we have worked report that their college and graduate experiences are greatly enhanced by our founding principles and our goal-oriented-coaching strategies. 

I am married and my husband and I have a blended family. When we got married, I had three children and he had two children, which we raised together. We have been together now for over twenty-five years.  I have lived and worked in this area all of my life and I enjoy strong ties to the community.