I have practiced in the field of counseling since 1985 in a variety of treatment settings including psychiatric hospitals, outpatient clinics, a pain management clinic and private practice in Alabama and Florida. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. I obtained a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology and a Master's Degree in Humanities, concentrating on the psychology of religion and eastern philosophies. I have taught as an Adjunct, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of West Florida. For 20 years I was certified through the Florida Department of Children & Families as a Batterers' Intervention Program Assessor, Group Facilitator, Supervisor and Trainer working with domestic violence perpetrators and victims. I am also certified as a Sex Offender Treatment Specialist through Ohio University. In the mid-90s, the director of Shelter House at the time, Jean Dutton, along with my friend and previous colleague, Suzette DeJarnette and myself, formed the nucleus of what later became the first Domestic Violence Coordinating Council of Okaloosa and Walton County which remains active today with the goal of insuring offender accountability and victim safety.
While I have worked with children, adolescents, and adults, I now mainly work with adults. I have utilized a variety of theoretical orientations over the years, considering myself an "eclectic", using a variety of approaches and techniques based on the needs of the client. I have been a student of eastern philosophy & practice for over three decades. In 1995 I attended residential training in Canada on Constructive Living (CL) with Anthropologist, Dr. David K. Reynolds, who later certified me as a Constructive Living Instructor. Dr. Reynolds is recognized as the leading Western authority on Japanese psychotherapies. Constructive Living is a Western approach to mental health education based in large part on adaptations of two Japanese psychotherapies, Morita therapy and Naikan therapy. Later I traveled to Japan on two occasions to further my study of these therapies. Additionally, in 2003 I received training by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and in 2011 I attended a 5-day intensive version of the 8-week MBSR program at the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School.
While I have worked with children, adolescents, and adults, I now mainly work with adults. I have utilized a variety of theoretical orientations over the years, considering myself an "eclectic", using a variety of approaches and techniques based on the needs of the client. I have been a student of eastern philosophy & practice for over three decades. In 1995 I attended residential training in Canada on Constructive Living (CL) with Anthropologist, Dr. David K. Reynolds, who later certified me as a Constructive Living Instructor. Dr. Reynolds is recognized as the leading Western authority on Japanese psychotherapies. Constructive Living is a Western approach to mental health education based in large part on adaptations of two Japanese psychotherapies, Morita therapy and Naikan therapy. Later I traveled to Japan on two occasions to further my study of these therapies. Additionally, in 2003 I received training by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and in 2011 I attended a 5-day intensive version of the 8-week MBSR program at the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School.
