EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

      As stated on the home page, most clients want to know something about the background of their therapist.  This helps orient them to their therapist and helps them decide if they are a good “fit” with the therapist.  In response I offer the following.

      I was born and raised in New York State.  My early education, grades K-8 was undertaken in public school.  After middle school I had the good fortune to get my high school education at a school run by The Society of Friends (generally known as Quakers).  In addition to the quality of education, this school undertook to impress students with their responsibility to the societies and the world in which they live.  Students attending the school were from all social, racial, and economic classes and from many different nations.  A considerable measure of the school’s teaching focused on service to people and non-violence.  I carried this sense of responsibility forward throughout my life and it has guided my academic studies, the kinds of work I have done, and the people with, and for whom, I worked.

      After high school I attended Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship where I completed B.A.s in Political Science and Sociology.  While attending Syracuse I lectured against the Viet Nam War and the Draft and was active in Civil Rights matters.  I worked full time throughout my undergraduate course work to support myself and offset my tuition.

      Having completed undergraduate school I moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  I completed an M.A. in political science at the University College, University of Manitoba.  I again worked full time to support myself and was assisted with my tuition through a teaching assistantship.  Completing my course work for this degree, I started a consulting firm while writing my M.A. thesis.  This firm, which had projects across Canada, worked for aboriginal nations undertaking economic development, land claims, community planning and other major projects.  We also consulted with the Federal Government of Canada on aboriginal issues.  Beyond work with Canada’s native people, the firm undertook several river and stream studies focused on planning, zoning and managing rivers in the cities of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  During the nearly twenty years of the existence of this firm I completed my M.A. thesis in political science, and undertook city planning studies at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba.  I became a Canadian Citizen in 1975.

      Returning to the United States in 1986, I was appointed as a principal planner for the town of Barnstable.  Town planning at that time was besieged by uncontrollable growth and, as I found the approach to dealing with this problem less than comprehensive and professionally unrewarding, I left the profession and returned to school, attending Lesley University in Cambridge, MA where I earned an M.A. in clinical psychology.

      During the course of my studies at Lesley University I undertook a practicum at, and worked for, a community residence for mentally ill adults.  Two internships were completed, one on the locked ward of a state mental hospital and the other at the mental health crisis unit in New Bedford.

      Upon graduation from Lesley, I worked as a crisis counselor at the mental health crisis unit in New Bedford as well as working as a therapist for New Bedford Child and Family Services.  I continued to work for Child and Family for six years before opening my current practice of 30+ years.