I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Washington. I have over twenty years experience working with children, adolescents, and families in a variety of different capacities.
I am trained in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), the current leading treatment for suicidal and self-harming individuals, and was taught by the treatment developer. I have worked with adolescents and adults as an individual DBT therapist, a skills group leader, and an individual skills trainer. I am a co-author on a best-selling book from Guilford Press, DBT Skills in Schools, that incorporates DBT skills into classroom curriculum. Along with my DBT training, I have worked with and done extensive training with Youth Suicide Prevention Program, Reconnecting Youth, and the American Association of Suicidology. I have worked with schools to help implement appropriate procedures for intervening with a suicidal youth, and what schools should do after a suicide.
Suicide risk among lesbian, gay, and bisexual college youth was the topic of my graduate research. Working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth is my other area of specialty. I began work in 2003 as an intervention specialist with the Safe Schools Coalition, providing intervention support to teachers, parents, and students in need of help with LGBT victimization. From 2009- 2012, I was a co-chair of the coalition. I have created and led a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at a middle school in which I worked, and have had an article published in Psychology in the Schools on the importance of GSAs for LGBT youth. I have received extensive training for work with the LGBT population, including the needs of transgender youth. I served as an adjunct faculty at the University of Washington in Educational Psychology for nine years where I created a course on Special Populations, with a focus on LGBT youth.
I am a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and prior to starting my practice, I worked in elementary, middle, and high schools. I provided evaluations for students for potential disabilities and consulted with teachers and parents regarding students’ academic, emotional, and behavioral concerns. I also provided short and long term therapy for students with a variety of emotional and behavioral difficulties, crisis support, and much more.
Although I specialize in suicidal and self-harming behaviors and work with LGBT issues, I also see a variety of individuals in my practice in need of help with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, perfectionism, interpersonal difficulties and many other problems.