Educational/Professional :
I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist living in La Quinta, CA. I provide TeleTherapy remotely by phone and video conference, serving the Coachella Valley in Southern California. I completed 14 years of a college education. I was able to indulge my deep love of literature and earn my undergrad degree in English. I concurrently earned my degree in speech and theatre. My studies provided me with a rich appreciation for our cultural history, and theater. To this day, literature continues to feed my soul as well as nourish my mind.
I also earned my teaching certification and began my career as a high school English teacher and speech coach. I was assigned to teach the students determined to be “at risk.” I enjoyed working with this population because I was drawn to students who were troubled and in need of support. This led me to train to become a full time school counselor. I entered the Counseling Masters Program. I earned my masters and was trained and certified as a counselor. I began working with students experiencing a great deal of pain. I also worked closely with teachers and parents to provide a team approach of support to my students and their healing.
I segued from school counseling into community counseling. The organization I worked for contracted services with Polk County to provide counseling for families who were torn apart by drugs and alcohol. I was commissioned to handle many painful cases of parents who lost their children because of their drug and alcohol use. My goal was to provide individual counseling to the parents - which was part didactic and part therapeutic. I was teaching parents about their disease of addiction and encouraging them as they progressed along a recovery path. I also provided counseling to the children of these parents, helping them understand that they were not responsible for the addiction, couldn’t fix it, but could learn tools to help themselves. I helped them work through their conflicted feelings of hating the disease and loving their parents. My greatest joy came from helping the families reunite and begin the recovery journey together. I deeply believe that families function best when they can work together and support one another into healing.
While earning my doctorate, I taught graduate students counseling courses at Drake University. I found a great deal of satisfaction teaching professionals to develop their skills as therapists.
My doctoral dissertation topic is: Sharing the Final Experience: Caring for a Terminally Ill Spouse into Widowhood. This topic was very near and dear to my heart. I also trained in Hospice end-of-life care and provided support to the terminally ill and their loved ones.
Once I relocated to California I worked as a therapist in a group home for troubled youth. Again these were young people separated from their families for a myriad of reasons. Through individual and group counseling my ultimate goal was to help reunite these young people with their families – when possible.
I also worked as a therapist for foster children and families. In addition to this work, I also taught parenting classes to hopeful foster parents.
My tenure at the Betty Ford Center provided me a wide range of opportunities. As a trainer for professionals, I facilitated addiction and recovery training for medical students from medical schools all over the country. I also provided education for professionals in the field of Law, Education, Mental Health, and Entertainment, just to name a few. I was fortunate to work with intelligent, thoughtful professionals from a myriad of careers interested in understanding the disease and treatment of addiction.
I worked with The Betty Ford Center physicians to design the week long addiction and recovery curriculum, I hosted visiting professionals from countries around the world; including Finland, Turkey, England, Japan, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand, among others.
I have presented to various organizations including: "Sigma Chi" and "It Can Happen to Boys, too", local law enforcement agencies, mental health agencies, and schools.
Topics I've presented on include: Addiction and Recovery ;Identifying the addict in your life and how you are impacted; Understanding Deaf Culture; Parenting a deaf child and how to navigate challenges to create opportunities ; How can therapists work with the Deaf?; Working with oppositional and defiant adolescents; Spiritual growth through emotional challenges; Integrating the essence of the inner child with the adult; and Mindful meditation.
I am certified in Hypnotherapy
I am certified in Life Span Integration - a technique designed to facilitate healing from anxiety, depression, and trauma.
I am certified in Level 1 of Gottman Marriage Counseling Methods
I am certified in Intervention (Alcohol and Drug) Intervention
Working in private practice is my first love. My focus is client-centered. I am dedicated to providing a safe, secure, confidential environment for clients who are motivated to move through painful life events into transformative, life-affirming opportunities of new growth.
Personal:
All of us walk a journey through life. All of us have a story to tell. In my life I have experienced the ravages of addiction in my family of origin.
After being married for 12 years to my high school sweetheart, I was his care-giver for three years when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and then I was a widow at the age of 31. My daughter and I spent the next five years attempting to create a new life with a million fractured pieces. I understand the fragility of grieving in a society that is often insensitive to the journey. I lived it and I trained for it.
Marriage in the second part of life - of course there have been challenges! We've had difficulties blending our two families. After all, the only one who really invited me to the family is my spouse. Bob and I have been married for 25+ years. We raised an adopted child with special needs. We learned much through sharing in our parenting and professional lives.
When I am not thoroughly engaged with the privilege of working with my clients, I am enjoying our family, our rescue dogs and the life we have created.
