Professional Background

 

 

 

     I am a board certified art therapist and licensed professional counselor with a master's degree in fine art from the University of NC/Greensboro and a master's degree in art therapy from New York University. In additon to providing therapy in private practice, I have also worked in the Chapel Hill school system providing group therapy to exceptional children as a member of the North Carolina Art Therapy Institute .

      Before moving to NC, I worked in adult inpatient psychiatry at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, where I conducted art therapy, music and creative writing groups, verbal therapy groups and individual sessions, as well as meditation/relaxation groups. At Woodhull, I worked with clients covering the whole range of psychiatric diagnoses, such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, psychotic disorders, and substance induced disorders.

     I have experience working with traumatized clients both, at the hospital and in a number of other contexts and have been trained to diagnose and treat emotional trauma obtaining a certificate from the International Trauma Studies Program and subsequently getting a certificate in EMDR therapy.

     In addition, I have significant experience working with children and adolescents. I created and conducted an after-school art therapy program for traumatized Liberian refugee children and adolescents on Staten Island, NY, where I conducted individual and group sessions addressing issues of separation, loss, neglect, and exposure to violence. I received the Governor Lehman Art Therapy Award for this project. Later I worked on a project, also on Staten Island, through the International Rescue Committee addressing the profoundly negative self-image among refugee adolescents through art therapy, photography and creative writing.

    My focus is to identify and support individual strengths, to instill a sense of agency and accomplishment, and to empower clients to be active in working towards their own recovery.