TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

I began my career with my master’s internship in California counseling children, adolescents and adults affected by family violence. After earning my master’s, I provided hotline, individual and group therapy to adults at a short-term residential crisis facility. After moving to Philadelphia, I did intensive in-home counseling with individual, couples and families with children at imminent risk of removal from the home. As I began my Ph.D. program, I worked for four years at a community mental center in Philadelphia, assessing and counseling children, adolescents and adults with wide-ranging problems in individual, couple, family and group sessions. In that setting, I began supervising other therapists. 

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In 1993, I became a licensed psychologist and soon after began seeing clients in part-time private practice. For my doctoral internship, I joined University of Pennsylvania’s student counseling center (CAPS), where I treated students from diverse backgrounds. During that year, I also received specialized training and counseled adults at the Center for Cognitive Therapy. After completing my internship, I remained at CAPS for an additional year as a staff psychologist.

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Upon completing my Ph.D., my passion for counseling, supervising and programming led me to a position directing a combination psychiatric/drug and alcohol clinic serving a disadvantaged adult population. In addition to providing individual and group therapy and supervising the staff, I developed extensive clinical programs and services, including a robust internship program.

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In 1997, I returned to the University of Pennsylvania as a senior staff psychologist, where for several years I assessed and counseled students, trained and supervised junior colleagues and coordinated the groups program.

In 1999, my passion for women’s issues led me to begin teaching women’s studies courses at the University of Pennsylvania. I continued teaching there for many years, also teaching various psychology courses at West Chester University and Community College of Philadelphia.

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In 2004, my commitment to integrity and supporting students led me to the University of Pennsylvania’s disciplinary office, where I worked with students, faculty and staff dealing with student misconduct. In addition to dealing with a broad range of cases of misconduct, I served as the Title IX (gender issues) specialist in the unit, dealing with sexual assault, harassment and stalking, working with both those that were victimized as well as those accused. I created positive working relationships while also holding students accountable for violating the school's codes of conduct.

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Over decades as a psychologist, I engaged in a great deal of continuing education. While too extensive to list, some of the trainings that contributed the most to my development were those about mindfulness, personality disorders (in particular, borderline personality disorder) and sexual assault.

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SUPPORTING SUICIDE SURVIVORS

After losing a loved one to suicide and getting involved in the suicide survivor community, my desire to support others dealing with suicide loss led me to complete the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Support Group Facilitator training. Building on this, I began developing workshops for suicide loss survivors.

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USING NARRATIVE THERAPY

Most recently, my sense that narrative therapy might be the most egalitarian and empowering form of therapy I've encountered led me all the way to the Vancouver School of Narrative Therapy, where I trained with international leaders in that field and completed an intensive certification program in 2014. Currently, I'm excited about finding ways to integrate very diverse techniques I've learned over decades within a narrative therapy framework in order to be most helpful to individual clients and groups of people facing particular challenges.