Licensure
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Addiction Counselor in the State of Colorado and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of Georgia.
I am registered as an out-of-state healthcare practitioner with the Florida Department of Health to perform telehealth services for patients in Florida. More information may be found at the Florida Department of Health website.
Education
I received my Master of Social Work at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine in 1999. I completed my undergraduate studies with a concentration on Art, Culture and Society at the Eugene Lang College of the New School in New York City in 1992.
Experience
As a social worker, I have worked in diverse settings and contexts, spanning direct clinical work to policy and advocacy work nationally and internationally.
“The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being.”
My early social work career was spent in Portland, Maine, in a range of roles in community mental health and crisis services, university student services (counseling center and women’s resources), sexual assault response services, and international social services.
The next ‘phase’ of my career was in international humanitarian aid, primarily addressing sexual and gender-based violence with communities affected by conflict, and addressing women’s and human rights internationally. I worked in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan (West Darfur), and India with a number of local, national and international organizations.
The current chapter has been in direct clinical work in Denver, Colorado, where from 2008 until mid-August of 2015, I worked at the Eating Disorder Center of Denver, now called Eating Disorder Care (EDCare). After seven years there, I left to launch this practice, Wholehearted Psychotherapy. I’ve come to specialize in working with adults who have co-occurring eating disorders, substance use disorders, and trauma-related and dissociative disorders, including adult survivors of childhood physical, sexual, emotional, psychological abuse and neglect.
In the recent past, I have also taught for the University of New England’s online Master of Social Work program.
Professional Development
I delight in being an eternal student and have a strong commitment to ongoing professional development. There’s just so much to learn and be curious about! Here are a few of the professional development opportunites I’ve engaged in over the past few years:
Clinical Hypnosis Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Levels through theAmerican Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 2016-2019.
International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation Regional Conference, Denver, CO 2017.
Attachment, Relational Trauma & Dissociative Process: Implications for Treatment, 2017 Annual Conference of the Denver Psychoanalytic Society.
EMDR Therapy Tools for Addictions, an advanced EMDR training through the Maiburger Institute, Boulder, CO, 2017.
International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation 34th Annual Conference, Arlington, VA, 2017.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Dissociative Disorders Standard Course Parts I and II through the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, 2015-2018
Enhanced Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT-E) for Eating Disorders through the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders at Oxford University, 2014-2015.
Bridging Soma and Soul: Supporting Wholeness through Nervous System Integration, Trauma Healing and Bodily Wisdom, a training and mentorship program through the Somatic Training Institute, Boulder, Colorado 2013-2014. From 2015-2016 I was a teaching assistant for this program.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) basic training through Awake Mind in Boulder, Colorado. Awake Mind is a training program approved by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA), 2012-2013, followed by a monthly consultation group with an EMDRIA-approved consultant through 2015 and again in 2019.
Eating Disorder Treatment at the Core: Body Image, Self Connection, and Identity, a national eating disorders conference for professionals at the Center for Change, Orem, Utah, 2013.
Colorado Licensed Addiction Counselor Training: 72 hours of coursework, 48 hours of clinical supervision, passage of the NAADAC MAC Exam, and 3000 hours of clinically supervised work experience from 2010-2012. For this process I sought supervision from a Licensed Addiction Counselor with expertise in treating co-occurring eating and substance use disorders.
In addition to formal coursework and training, I participate in a monthly consultation with a specialist in the treatment of individuals with complex trauma and dissociative disorders as well as a monthly peer consultation group which focuses on treating individuals with histories of complex trauma and dissociation. Other areas of interest include mindfulness-based and somatic psychotherapy, interpersonal neurobiology, ego state therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and attachment theory.
Professional Memberships
Current Memberships
American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH)
International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), including membership in ISSTD’s Creative Arts Therapists Special Interest Group and Ritual Abuse/Mind Control/Organized Abuse Special Interest Group.
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
Past Memberships
EMDR International Association (EMDRIA)
International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP), Founding Treasurer, IAEDP Denver Metro Chapter 2013-2014
Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC)