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Credentials Licensed Clinical Social Worker Registered with the University of the State of New York Education Department Office of the Professions: License # 077643-1 (LCSW) EMDR Trained Therapist Education and Training
Employment Highlights Before starting my private practice, I worked in a variety of capacities and settings. I was an AIDS Educator for the Red Cross in their "AIDS in the Workplace Program" and a Health Educator and Medical Assistant at Preterm Health Services, a women’s clinic in the Boston area. In the IPRT Program ("Intensive Psychiatric Rehabilitation Treatment") at the Guidance Center of New Rochelle, I worked with people who have chronic mental illnesses such as Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia. Through the Beacon School Program at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, I worked with teens and children of all ages and provided both home-based and out-patient clinical treatment to individuals and families from a range of social and economic backgrounds. Similarly, I worked as a clinical social worker and outpatient therapist at the Corona-Elmhurst Guidance Center. After 9/11, I was employed as an outreach clinician with NYPD’s POPPA Program ("Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance"), going from precinct to precinct to counsel and educate police officers about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and suicide prevention. I also worked in executive search and other corporate settings. Private Practice I have been in clinical practice for over 20 years, I have worked with individuals, families, couples and groups. Over the years, I have developed an eclectic approach that combines talk therapy, action methods like psychodrama, mind-body modalities and goal-oriented coaching, I believe it's important to create a sense of a collaborative process with my clients, and I tailor my approach to the needs of each one. I am comfortable collaborating with other providers, whether they are psychiatrists prescribing psychotropic medication or alternative practitioners who take a more holistic approach to healing and personal growth. A specialty in my practice is helping clients deal with the effects of trauma, whether experienced in the recent or the distant past. Conditions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Anxiety and problems with addiction are often related to histories of trauma. Many clients, especially those who have trouble sustaining satisfying and healthy intimate relationships, are not even aware of how deeply they have been affected by the past. They may not realize that they are holding on to coping strategies which helped them survive traumatic upbringings, but which are no longer adaptive to their lives as adults. I have been successful in helping clients understand, heal and resolve the symptoms of trauma using a variety of techniques, including the cutting edge method EMDR. To learn more about EMDR, read my article HERE. The options for treatment are more varied and effective than ever before and figuring out which clients may be more or less responsive to which approaches is one of my specialties. For more on trauma, click HERE. Couples Therapy Another specialty of mine is helping couples work through their problems and difficulties in couples therapy. Whether straight or gay, married or otherwise, I am skilled at creating an environment in which couples can learn to communicate and deal with conflict effectively, process old hurts and plan for future relating that is more satisfying and mutually respectful. Some couples opt for "conjoint therapy" in which each partner explores his/her/their own individual issues in the presence and with the support of their partner; this promotes deeper understanding between the partners; one partner's witnessing of the other's working through past emotional struggles breeds deeper intimacy and compassion between both partners. I also draw on Harville Hendrix's Imago Therapy in my work with couples. My training in family therapy at the Ackerman Institute as well as my experience as a Psychodramatist provide me with a range of tools and perspectives to offer couples as they work through their particular issues. Whether figuring out how to stay together or how to part in as respectful a manner as possible, couples therapy is a powerful and helpful undertaking. Consulting and Public Speaking In my consulting practice, I've worked with clients as diverse as a leading Wall St. law firm, a growing video and consulting company and professional writers and visual artists. Services include: creating and facilitating various workshops and seminars for staff development; providing insight on group dynamics and other interpersonal conflicts among employees ; and offering advice on how to address changes in organizational culture or career direction. I have helped artists and other creative professionals overcome blocks in their process. I am also an accomplished public speaker, having presented on topics ranging from The Sociometry of Breastfeeding to Reflecting on the Psychological Uses and Meanings of Money. |
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