About
Mission
To bring compassionate and developmentally informed mental health services to infants, children, adolescents, young adults and their parents.
To bring high quality, reflective mental health consultation and child-parent psychotherapy training to the broader professional community.
Key Values
Professional Education
My professional education was at the University of Minnesota where I earned Master’s degrees in Social Work (MSW) and Public Health with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health (MPH) and a doctoral degree in Social Work (PhD). I am licensed in Minnesota as a psychologist (LP) and as a clinical social worker (LICSW). The Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health has endorsed me as an Infant Mental Health Mentor.
Specialized Training
- Three-year course of study in infant mental health including Infant Observation and training in infant-parent psychotherapy
- Training and certification in trauma-informed child parent psychotherapy for children birth to five
- Field test teacher for the middle school sexuality curriculum: Our Whole Lives (OWL)
- Racial Justice “Trainer of Trainers” program through Hackman Consulting Group
Experience and Current Practice
I opened a private psychotherapy practice, presently located in Edina, more than 25 years ago. Before that I was on the mental health staff of Minneapolis Children’s Hospital where I worked as a psychotherapist doing individual, family and group work in the outpatient mental health clinic. I provided mental health consultation to inpatient medical and surgical units and was a mental health liaison to the emergency and short stay surgery departments.
While my current practice specialization is child and parent psychotherapy, I reserve hours for individuals of all ages. Part of my practice is devoted to infant and toddler mental health services and I work extensively with preschool and school age children and adolescents. My work with older adolescents, college students and young adults often addresses developmental, identity and adjustment themes in the transition to adulthood.
Parenting is a hard job in the best circumstances and even harder when life feels stressful, when a child is struggling or when a parent experiences depression, anxiety or other challenges. As children grow, parents typically have questions about development and behavior. My practice offers developmental guidance and collaborative parent support, parent psychotherapy, and consultation to grandparents and kin.
Professional Affiliations
- American Psychological Association
- World Association of Infant Mental Health
- Minnesota Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health
- Minnesota Society of Clinical Social Work
- American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work