I have concentrated my work and expertise in the support of infants, very young children, and families in various capacities since 2002. While completing my Master’s degree in Psychology, my focus was on early intervention with families considered to be at-risk, including adolescent parents and their babies. I discovered a passion for working with fathers (both young and old) and with families who struggled to connect with other professional systems, including LGBTQ children and families, and families who were working with CPS and DCYF.

I have continued to focus on young children and families through my work at the early childhood clinic Cooper House.  Through our clinic, I became trained as a Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN) Trainer, which allows me to coach home visitors, nurses, early intervention specialists, and other providers in a mindful, relationship-based framework for working with families— a framework which, in turn, allows them to support the capacity and strength of the families they serve, rather than being in the role of “expert.” I see this as an essential way to promote collaborative, anti-racist practice in the expanding early childhood workforce, thus reaching far more families than I might reach as a single clinician.

In my other practice, Mente Counseling, I have been able to follow my professional passions of working with fathers in particular, as well as children on the autism spectrum, and couples who are struggling in their relationship. I have also enriched my practice with extensive studies in the Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation, a powerful framework that emphasizes our common human needs to avoid danger, increase protection, and seek comfort in our relationships, and the ways these needs can become distorted by trauma, oppression, and interpersonal conflict. I bring the lens of adaptation and resiliency into every therapeutic interaction I have.