I began my career as a family therapist over 35 years ago. I worked primarily with young adults and their families who were dealing with major mental illness and addiction. While doing this work, I began teaching and training other professionals to work with families using the Structural Family Therapy approach. I became a certified supervisor by the Marriage and Family Therapy Association and began my private practice. I also was a clinical consultant for several private institutions and public agencies. I presented at local and national conferences and became a contributing editor of The Networker, an award-winning publication for mental health professionals. In 2009 The Washingtonian Magazine cited me as a top therapist in the area, and in 2014, I was again cited by Washingtonian Magazine as a top couples therapist in the area.

For the last fifteen years, I have become very interested in understanding theories and methods which are based on the breakthroughs in brain science. The long arc of my career has allowed me to enter a new age in the field of mental health, where psychotherapy and brain science can be effective in ways previously unimagined.

I have studied groundbreaking theories and techniques based upon the recognition that the brain is plastic (it can change). This new research focuses on the interplay between the brain and the involuntary nervous system found in the body. Becoming prolific in brain-based techniques like EMDR, Somatic Experiencing and Brainspotting, which target this healing zone, has radically altered my own expectations for what can be accomplished through brain/body approaches.

Providing the most effective treatment available matters deeply to me. Continuing to grow and learn is part of this commitment to offer the best work I can give. Recently, I have embraced through continued training the Affective, Experiential, Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) approach, a powerful yet gentle way of working which elicits deep, fundamental and enduring changes for clients seeking help. As I have integrated AEDP into how I practice, I have observed a depth of healing that clients themselves have described as transformational.