I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who has specialized in working with children with trauma histories for over 30 years. I have worked in the school setting, including alternative schools, non-profit agencies and privately, with police or probation-referred, foster and adoptive children, as well as special needs children (I am fluent in American Sign Language).
Along my professional journey, I have had three trainings that have most profoundly directed my approach to working with children and families. I am a certified trainer for the Beyond Consequences Logic and Control "Stress Model" (understanding trauma, how it impacts children's brain and behavior, and effective relationship-based ways for parents and teachers to help children heal). I am also a Certified Advanced Trainer for "The Nurtured Heart Approach", which helps parents, teachers, children and others learn how to recognize and build upon strengths in even the most challenging children, also through a deeper understanding of the power of relationship. And most recently I have discovered “Trust-Based Relational Intervention”, an approach that helps parents build skills addressing specific common challenging behavior in children who have experienced trauma, using playful interactions that help create “felt safety”.
In combining these three approaches, I have seen hope arise where there was none, and children heal in the home and school setting. I am passionate about these three models.