About

 
Here’s a little about my background and how I came to be a counselor.
 

I grew up in England and came to America for college. After I graduated, I worked as a newspaper reporter in France and then Argentina. I returned to America for graduate studies at Columbia University’s journalism school, and afterwards worked as a reporter in the U.S. Senate in Washington DC.

The political conflict was a grind, so I moved to Portland for some fresh air. At first, I worked as a freelance journalist and found my strength in connecting with people, in understanding and relating their stories. I pursued this further and shifted the angle toward psychology. I returned to graduate school and became a therapist.

My husband and I have been together for more than 20 years and we have two kids, now in college. Psychologist David Schnarch calls marriage and committed relationships “the people growing machine.” My husband and I have faced our own hurdles and consequently grown. It is in part thanks to being a client in couples’ therapy that I derive my deep appreciation of the possibility of change and happiness that can come from counseling.

I believe my theoretical learning and my life experience combine to help me be a thoughtful, empathic, and engaged therapist to assist people through the many challenges of living.

And sometimes, when the moment is right, I also express my British sense of humor : )

EDUCATION

M.S. in Counseling, with a specialization in Marriage, Couples and Family from Portland State University

M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University

B.A. from the University of Virginia

I have trained with some of the leaders in the field of counseling. These include:

  • Emotion-Focused Couples’ Therapy – years of monthly consultation and a participant in several intensive trainings – Jamie Levin-Edwards, Psy.D.; Charles Edwards, Ph.D
  • The Gottman Method
  • Certified PRINT® Coach through developer the Paul Hertz Group
  • Hypnosis — an extensive trainings at the NYSEPH (New York Milton Erikson Society for Psychotherapy and Hypnosis)
  • Trauma and the Body – Peter Levine, Ph.D.
  • Internal Family Systems trainings

 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

I am a member of the:

– American Counseling Association
– Oregon Counseling Association