About Me

My plan, as a 17-year-old, was to get a degree in Music Composition and then write wonderful pieces for people. Ah, 17 years old.

But what got in the way of music was this: I kept noticing people in my college dorm who were unhappy and wanted a shoulder to cry on or some comforting words. I felt selfish going to practice for hours when people needed me! (Yeah, 17 years old).

I only realized later that this thinking was paving the way toward training as a therapist. So, I changed my major to Family Science, thinking that I could do some teaching as a Family Life Educator.

At this point, the idea of graduate school never once occurred to me. Never. I didn’t reject it, rather I never thought about it. But… Life happens! Life challenges helped me realize that I needed more education.

Newly divorced, I wanted a degree that would give me some independence, so I could better take care of my young son. I eventually received my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2000 and next completed a post-doc in Mind-Body Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine. (I don’t recommend graduate school as a single parent – that’s hard!)

I then spent some years as research faculty at Yale, conducting clinical research studies on interventions designed to reduce anxiety in adults, families and children. During this time, I published articles in peer-reviewed journals, acted as a reviewer for several journals, and received two grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH).

But I missed therapy. A sporadic client or two just wasn’t enough for me. I had received some first-rate training in therapy during graduate school and during my internship in Community Mental Health.

Seeing the tough cases – the people who were all but left behind by their families and by general health care – changed my perspective. I learned not only how to help people who were incredibly discouraged and unmotivated, but also how to better work with people who were lucky enough to not be in quite that difficult a position. I came out of that training with a deeper sense of compassion for humanity and for human frailty.

I was fortunate enough to have been well trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. A graduate school class (the equivalent of the Intensive Training) as well as twice through Intensive Training materials with my work colleagues helped me totally fall in love with this approach.

I went on to complete an Advanced DBT training led by Dr. Marsha Linehan in 1999, and I co-led a 40-hour DBT training for state mental health workers in Kentucky.

I left Yale in 2006 and have been loving being in private practice since that time.

As a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, I offer examination, diagnosis, treatment and consulting services for persons confronted with a range of emotional, behavioral and relationship problems. Individual, couples and group therapies are available. In addition, I am pleased to be a public speaker on topics of mind-body health and motivation.