Practice Focus

I have been involved in the field of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) for over 45 years and have a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.  I have worked in psychiatric hospitals, schools, mental health agencies, and in private practice with a broad span of clients and patients.  I have specialized in both Eating Disorders and issues of age, from childhood through senior years, and have added trauma as a specialty as well.  

One recent focus has been on issues of midlife.  My dissertation for my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology was entitled Women Dancers in Midlife:  Coping With the Transition.  My workshop partner, Taira Restar, M. A., and I led workshops based on my research for women in midlife.  We created a forum in which women expressed the issues of transitioning to midlife through creative means.  

I received training and certification in the Body Positive approach of working with Body Image challenges.  It has been a rich addition to what I can offer clients with eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and also, aging.  Many of us experience questions about our worth due to so much emphasis being placed on appearance as the measure of our worthiness.  The Body Positive approach offers new and valuable solutions to embracing who we are as an offering of beauty to the world, without sugar-coating the negative messages we all have to face in the world.  

My therapeutic skills have been deepened and enriched by the training I received in Internal Family Systems work. It is a creative, empowering journey toward becoming rooted in our deepest core of wisdom and light, our true Self. I have offered this approach to my clients in combination with Dance/Movement Therapy and have found the results to be very successful with my clients.  

The healing power of dance is at the core of my philosophy.  I believe deeply that we all have a creative center that is filled with wisdom and joy,  which provides the potential for transformation.  My practice of meditation affirms this core belief that we all have a center of light that can be accessed even in the darkest of times.  We can explore this process through dance, art, music, written word, and silence.  


Education:

B.A. 1975  Dance and Psychology, Goucher College, Towson, MD.

M.S. 1985  Dance/Movement Therapy, Hunter College, New York, NY.

Ph.D. 2010  Clinical Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.


Professional Associations:

American Dance Therapy Association:  Member at Large, Western Region, for National Board.  Representative to ACIH (formerly ACCHAC).  Past member Research Committee. Past member Ethics Committee

CA Chapter of the American Dance Therapy Association:  Past Communications Chair

CA Chapter of the American Dance Therapy Association:  Past President

Association of Professionals Treating Eating Disorders