About

Postgraduate Work & Practical Experience

I received my BA from Connecticut College and my MSW from Rutgers University.  I have trained extensively in Bowen family systems theory, which informs the work I do and the life I live.  That post graduate training was completed with Princeton Family Center for Education and the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family.  In my clinical practice, I work with individuals, couples, and families on issues relating to stress and anxiety, depression, substance overuse, bereavement, and relationship challenges.  I believe that by looking with curiosity at patterns of functioning from a broader family systems perspective, individuals can gain greater self awareness and increase the ability to choose more thoughtful ways to respond to life’s challenges within all relationship systems, whether family, work, or socially based.  I also consult with organizations to enhance leadership potential and to explore and address the factors that are challenging effective decision making and functioning.

In addition to my clinical private practice and my work with organizations, my postgraduate employment experience includes having worked as a Psychiatric Social Worker at Richard Hall Community Mental Health Center where I met with individuals, couples, and families to address a broad range of anxiety and relationship issues that included bereavement, depression, substance abuse, and difficulty simply adjusting to life changes. I also worked extensively with clients attending the center’s Dual Recovery Intensive Outpatient Services program which assisted individuals grappling with both substance abuse and chronic mental health issues. I later began working with Montclair State University’s Project COPE (Communities Organizing for Prevention and Empowerment), a federally-funded initiative that was designed to deliver HIV and substance abuse prevention programming to the school-aged children and families of Paterson, New Jersey. In both employment positions, I had the opportunity to function as a clinical supervisor for graduate student interns from local universities that included Columbia, Kean, Montclair State, NYU, and Rutgers. My practical experience also includes 12 years of volunteering extensively with the hospice unit at the University Medical Center at Princeton.

I am the Director of the Princeton Family Center for Education, Inc., a nonprofit educational institution that offers webcasts, courses, and training programs in Bowen family systems theory to professionals, organizational leaders, and members of the general public.  Bowen family systems theory is a body of knowledge about human functioning that looks at the interconnectedness of all individuals within any relationship system and provides a guide for moving thoughtfully toward more effective choices in managing oneself in those relationship systems.  I am one of three teacher trainers at Princeton Family Center for Education and am also on the Board of Trustees. 

I retired in June, 2021 from ten years of service on the Board of Trustees of Princeton Montessori School.  I had the privilege of serving as Board Chair for the last eight years.  Areas of focus in that role included co-leading the Head of School search in 2013-14, ensuring the Board’s governance model met best practices according to the National Association of Independent Schools, founding working committees within the Board, improving the meeting format for Trustee meetings, and serving on the Executive and Governance Committees of the Board. 

Postgraduate Training & Certifications

Bowen Center for the Study of the Family www.thebowencenter.org, Washington, DC—I participated in 3 years of the Research Seminar and I completed two years in the Center’s Postgraduate Program in Bowen Family Systems Theory and its Applications.

Princeton Family Center for Education www.princetonfamilycenter.org, Princeton, NJ—I completed two ten-month postgraduate training programs in Bowen Family Systems Theory.

Seminar in Field Instruction Certification—I completed the 20-hour certification course recognized by all New York and New Jersey Schools of Social Work as a qualification for professionally supervising social work graduate student interns.

Clinical Social Work Supervision Certification—I completed the 20-hour National Association of Social Workers—New Jersey Chapter supervision certification course as a qualification for professionally supervising licensed social workers.

Organization for Recovery, Inc., Plainfield, NJ—I completed all required coursework for application for CADC certification.