My family history and upbringing have influenced who I am as much as my professional development. I was born to a Presbyterian pastor and an English teacher. My father became a Christian in a Fraternity at UCLA and my mother committed her life to Christ at Cal-Berkley through a group called Christian Endeavor. I was raised in Richland, WA, Fresno & Pasadena, CA and internationally in “extended family,” meaning my parents opened our home, not only to relatives, but to many who needed to experience what it means to be part of a family through the turbulent 60’s and beyond. My parents took my sister and I around the world as they made friends, taught and learned from cutting-edge world leaders.
I was married for 30 years and lived in Pasadena, CA and Dallas, TX, where I received my psychological training. We moved to Bellingham, WA in 1996 to raise our two children (around deciduous trees, in a kinder and gentler community) and they are now constructive, conscientious, and compassionate adults.
While I focused on supporting my husband, raising our children, and caring for my widowed mother. I kept growing my practice. I spoke at local and international conferences, formed psycho-education therapy groups: (i.e, women’s identity, trauma recovery, lymphodema support, forgiveness , listening prayer, caring and listening skills training for church leaders, parenting turbulent teens, emotional intelligence, men and women in leadership together, etc) I served on the Bellingham School Board and the Washington Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Board and co-launched several delightfully transformative innovations:
- Annunciations – Adventure tourism for families and listening to God and each other (New Zealand, Ecuador, Canada)
- Action for Africa – developing community to community relationships and support between Bellingham and the Kingdom of Lesotho.
- Grow or Die (GOD) – Psychology and Christianity integration for women, ages 40-70, to help women focus on their “true self,” “inner being” … women’s spiritual and personal growth in the middle years.
Professionally, I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Leadership Consultant, and Life Coach. My professional training and development comes from 6 years at Fuller Theological Seminary School of Psychology with an MA in theology and Ph.D in Clinical Psychology. Internship with Dallas Child Guidance Clinic, Marriage and Family Therapy post -doc in supervision and private practice with Anna Beth Benningfield, President of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
A passion and purpose for me is fostering “right relationships” getting free from toxic self-centeredness to be develop more honest and loving relationships with ourselves, with others and God. This includes learning reality, boundaries, laws and limits that govern these relationships. I have a neuropsychology and developmental psychology background with focused expertise in women’s identity issues, narcissistic and co-dependent relationships, forgiveness and emotional healing, personality disorders, trans-generational family systems, compassionate church leadership, healing from complex trauma, and creating opportunities for moderns to develop integrity, moral conscience and maturity. In an age of narcissism, it could be said I specialize in “helping adults grow up.” I seek to encourage, challenge and nurture the capacity for each person I work with to grow in self-awareness, emotional intelligence, wisdom, competence and compassion. We work though wounds, blocks and blindness to free you to be the person you were made to be, hopefully want to be. If we are successful in our work together, you will be more able to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, bear with another’s weaknesses and love more deeply from the heart”.