As a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist (LMFT) with over 30 years experience, I specialize in the treatment of individuals, couples and families from a relational and systemic perspective. I enjoy working with individuals and couples who may be experiencing very challenging issues, but are interested in healing and creating lives and relationships that thrive and flourish. I use a variety of clinical frameworks including Gottman, Johnson, Bowen, and Object Relations, that can help people feel better about their relationships, their lives, and themselves. I maintained an office in the vibrant and diverse Central West End area in the City of St. Louis and saw clients that reflected that diversity.
In 1987 I was licensed in California as a Marriage, Family and Child Counselor and received the LMFT license in Missouri the first year they were granted. I am also a Registered, Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC) and am a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and teach Family Art Therapy in the Art Therapy and Counseling Program. I was on the faculty at the Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville in the Graduate Art Therapy Counseling Program for twenty years teaching several courses including: Ethics, Cultural Diversity, Family Art Therapy and Counseling Theory.
I served as Secretary and President of the Missouri Association for Marital and Family Therapists.
Theoretical Framework
I primarily rely on three clinical frameworks briefly described here:
- Object Relations Theory- examines how our early infant attachments shape our personalities, expectations of our world, and our adult relationships.
- Bowenian Family Therapy- examines how intergenerational patterns affect our interactions within our families and in all of our relationships.
- Feminist Therapy- allows for the consideration that our ability to interact in the world is influenced by gender, race, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status-not everything is under our own control or influence.
Additionally, having completed Level One and Level Two of the Gottman Method Couples Therapy with John and Julie Gottman and recently attended the Johnson-Gottman Summit, I utilize their couples therapy theories and techniques. I collaborate with clients to examine these relationships, cultural realities, and resultant beliefs. We work together to find ways to build personal integrity, better relationships and emotional freedom.
Work Experience
Prior to going into private practice in the mid 1990s, I was the Mental Health Coordinator at Metro AIDS for the St. Louis City Health Department. I oversaw mental health services funded by the Ryan White Emergency Care Act for individuals living with/challenged by HIV/AIDS in the greater bi-state area. Over the course of my career, I have worked with survivors of domestic violence, survivors of child sexual abuse and their non-offending parent, abused and neglected children in residential care in Los Angeles County and worked in in-patient and day treatment psychiatric settings for children, adolescents and adults. I also worked as a staff clinician at Care and Counseling, a pastoral care agency. I have extensive experience in individual, family, group, and multi-family group therapy.
Education
BA in Art, Art History, California State University, Long Beach
MA in Clinical Art Therapy, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
Licenses and Registrations
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, California
Licensed Marital and Family Therapist, Missouri
Registered and Board Certified Art Therapist with the American Art Therapy Association
Clinical Fellow with American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy
Additional Training
I attend professional training locally, at the state or national level several times a year.
Professional Activities and Memberships
I was elected President for the Missouri Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and served a total of 6 years on the board; Secretary-2007, President-Elect from 2008-09, President from 2010-11, Past-President -2012. The Missouri Association for Marriage and Family Therapy is the state division of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.