A new client walked into my office and she blurted out, “Oh, I’m so glad to see that you’re not young!”
Well, I think of myself as young, certainly young at heart, but I could completely and immediately relate to her sentiment. If I were looking for a therapist I would want someone experienced – experienced in life, experienced in education and training, and experienced in helping people with a wide range of issues. Yes, that’s me.
My counseling and healing practice is holistic, in other words, together we work with all levels of who you are and what the problem is. In a sense, life is like a multidimensional puzzle, with many pieces and many layers; physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It sounds complicated, and it is, but I have the ability to home in on where to start and how to continue our work together so that you can experience the changes that you want. My intention is that you know and can feel that progress is being made even during our first session together.
Education
I earned my undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Sociology at Linfield College, a school that sits on a beautiful campus graced by hundred plus-year-old oak trees in the small community of McMinnville, Oregon. After working for the state as a caseworker, raising my two sons, and developing a private practice, I returned to school for a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Psychology. Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center (now Saybrook University) in San Francisco suited my needs and interests perfectly. As a graduate school with a Humanistic Psychology focus, it allowed me to pursue my interests in holistic health and healing. Under the Research section you can read about my Master’s Thesis on back pain, and my Ph.D. Dissertation on energy healing and Certified Healing Touch Practitioners.
Healing Touch
Healing Touch Certified Practitioner (HTCP). Healing Touch™ is a hands-on energy medicine therapy that is evidence-based, has a scientific and spiritual theoretical framework, and was established by holistic nurse Janet Mentgen in 1989. Healing Touch is a holistic therapy which has been integrated in many hospitals, hospices, health care facilities, as well as in private counseling and healing practices.
As of January 31, 2014 the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), based in Washington, D.C. accredited the Healing Touch Program, Inc, for a five-year period expiring January 31, 2019. Healing Touch Program is the only exclusively energy medicine education program to have achieved national accreditation through the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). It has been taught in 32 countries around the world.
I am one of the few psychologists certified in Healing Touch, as most are nurses, and I count myself among the pioneers of the program, having been trained by Janet Mentgen, founder of the program, and Sharon Scandrett-Hibdon, PhD, one of the nurses who worked with Mentgen to develop, teach, and establish requirements for certification. I was first certified in July, 1997 and achieved re-certification under the new NCCA standards in May, 2014.
Information on this program, including research, newsletter, and e-magazine, can be obtained at healingtouchprogram.com and at healingbeyondborders.org
Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy, and Past Life Regression Therapy
The Wellness Institute, located in Issaquah, WA, is a worldwide training institute devoted to teaching Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy, training and certifying psychotherapists and other professionals in this unique skill set. My experience in completing the six-day intensive, and the two year internship to become an Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist, is that my life was transformed because of the deep work that we did with each other as we were learning and practicing the skills that we would take back to our work with our clients. It is a transformative process that touches every part of a student’s life, and fulfills two of the criteria that are important for me to bring to my work. One is that it enabled me to deepen my own psychological and emotional healing so that I can be of better service to my clients, and the other is that I found the program to be spiritual without advocating any kind of religious or spiritual path but simply by working with heart-centered intention. The program was developed and is taught by the husband-wife team, Diane Zimberoff, LMFT, and David Hartman, LCSW. More information about the program is available at www.wellness-institute.org
Training
- Counseling: Cognitive, Behavioral, Neurolinguistic Programming, Therapeutic Storytelling, Dream Interpretation, Humanistic, Person-Centered, Guided Imagery, Focusing.
- Energy Healing: Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, The Yuen Method. Tapas Acupressure Technique, Thought Field Therapy, Emotional Freedom Techniques, Healing From the Body Level Up, Cord Cutting.
- Hypnotherapy: Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy, Past Life Regression Therapy, Breath Work, Psychodrama.
Member
Healing Touch Program™
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals
Heart-Centered Therapies Association
Referral Therapist, Downtown Women’s Clinic, Portland, Oregon
Tabor Toastmasters, Portland, Oregon
Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC)
