I am a psychologist in private practice in Nashville, Tennessee.
I received a M.S. in Educational Psychology from the University of Tennessee and a Ph.D. in Clinical & Community Psychology from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
Experience
Prior to completing my doctoral study, I worked with disadvantaged youth at Shiloh, Inc. in New Jersey & New York City and at Cumberland House School in Nashville.
In addition to my clinical training at Vanderbilt, which included doctoral studies at Peabody College, clinical training at Vanderbilt Medical Center & Community Mental Health, I did a Fellowship at Serendipity Diagnostic & Treatment Center in Citrus Heights, California
Service
I was a Founding Member and Board Chair of the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute. I have served as Board Member and Board Chair at Oasis Center. Board Member at Crossroads Campus. I have done extensive consultation and training for Monroe Harding Children’s Services, working with Jon Ebert, Psy.D., Director of Centers of Excellence, Vanderbilt Medical Center Department of Psychiatry.
Excellence
National Volunteer of the Year.
National Network for Youth, Washington DC, 2002.
To paraphrase a mentor of mine; A therapist must be a whole person, not detached, but intuitive about how to use his or her own life in the interaction without burdening the patient with personal cares, hopes, or fears. A therapist should not seem aloof from cares and commitments, but listen as a learner for the patient’s ideals and the hopes that motivate him or her. The therapist’s own craft, successes, and struggles are the tools for being authoritative without being authoritarian or doctrinaire.
But words fail to grasp the process . . . through wise listening, one comes to know how to do it. With patience, many people come to know how to do it. . . how to know the heart’s desire and how to cultivate and make it be. That is the goal of psychotherapy . . . of life.