Pine Mountain has been my home with my husband Paul since 1999. I couldn’t ask for a more beautiful place to live than our mountain communities. I look forward each morning to my life and work here. My passion is helping people recover from the pain of psychological trauma, grief, loss, and other mental and emotional distress so they can once again enjoy life. I feel blessed to be doing work I love in such a wonderful and peaceful environment.

I’ve had a private counseling practice for many years, first in Kansas City, Missouri, then in the Los Angeles area. Since 2006, I have practiced in Pine Mountain. I enjoy working with all ages and types of people from children ten and up to teens, adults, and seniors. I find everyone unique, interesting and capable even when they feel like they are in their worst moments.

Though I primarily do what are called cognitive behavior and emotional reconsolidation therapy, I draw on the combination of healing approaches that best suit each person to replace unwanted circumstances, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors as soon and  permanently as possible.*

Many of my clients suffer from anxiety or depression, sometimes long-standing in nature or from recent emotionally overwhelming life circumstances. Others have bipolar disorder, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, anger issues,  insomnia, or distressing concerns arising from child custody and marital discord to the challenges of growing and changing “tweens” and teens or the need for a psychological evaluation for surgery or other medical problems.

I also provide a hypnosis protocol for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Over time, I received four degrees: a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, a Masters in Social Work at the University of Kansas, a Ph.D. in psychology from Akamai University in Honolulu, Hawaii, and an EdE in Psychology from San Juan University. Before going into private practice, I served as Director of Social Services for the Office of Health Education and Welfare and the University of Kansas Medical Center, and as Clinical Director for the Cathexis Institute in Glendale, CA, an outpatient treatment center for individuals with severe mental illness. I served as the in-house therapist for Whitefire Theatre Company and was the regular on-air psychological guest expert for the Salazar cable television show.

I am an affiliate of the Amen Clinics, certified to use their method for taking the guesswork out of counseling by careful assessment of one’s brain type. This tailored approach has proven to provide significantly better results in treating depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and bipolar disorders, ADD, anger management, memory and behavior problems, relationship conflicts, weight loss, and other mental health issues. Find out more.

I am a member of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium.

I have been trained and serve as a Red Cross Emergency Mental Health professional and am a California Victims of Crime Mental Health Provider.

In addition to my practice, my husband Paul and I have written many books about how to find the emotional and psychological balance between one’s work and personal life, including The Practical Dreamers Handbook and Changing Directions Without Losing Your Way. Our books have been translated into nine languages. Paul and I founded  Let’s Live Local, a non-profit working with its wood pellet, produce, and beef coops and health services efforts so it’s possible to live, work and shop in our mountain communities.

We share our home with Snow, a Maltipoo who is a therapy dog and Friend, a Cavapoo. We love to hike our mountain trails and enjoy reading and watching thought-provoking dramatic movies, series, and documentaries.                                                           ________________________________________________________________________

* My training and background includes many well-established and evidence-based approaches:  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi), EMDR (Adaptive Information Processing model), Compassion-focussed therapy, Emotional Reconsolidation, Ecopsychology, Gestalt Therapy, Mindfulness Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MCBT), Integrated Grief and Trauma Therapy, Somatic Trauma Therapy, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Dialectic-based Therapy, psychodynamic therapy, Transactional Analysis (TA), Levine’s SIMBAM model, supportive psychotherapy, Suicide Assessment Prevention and Treatment, family systems dynamics, the COPE program for treatment of depressed youth, biofeedback, pet accompanied psychotherapy, pet bereavement therapy and anger management (Episodic Model), CBT-IA (Internet Addition), Interpersonal and Sound Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT)  and evidence-based substance abuse programs. I will be glad to answer any questions you have about how I work. Please contact me by phone or email.