In high school, I began to realize how interesting people are, and after college, decided to make psychology my life’s work. I completed a Ph.D. in psychology and human development from the University of Chicago, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University, where I also taught psychology to undergraduates.

     In addition to my private practice, I am a recently retired professor of psychology at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, preparing forensic and legal psychology graduate students to work in counseling and the legal system. Teaching has been an inspiring and rewarding part of my work.

     While at Marymount, I taught forensic classes for 22 years, including a child victimization class where our students tutored young Afghan refugees. Their families came to the U.S. on a Special Immigrant Visa for Afghans who had worked with our troops and were fleeing retaliation from the Taliban. I also formed a student COVID Vaccination Team to find appointments for people when vaccinations were initially scarce. As a long-term member of the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team, I deployed to a number of disasters including the Pentagon on 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, when I took a group of students to New Orleans to work with the children.

     In 2008 I formed and co-taught a Wrongful Convictions class, initially with a retired DC homicide detective and then with our local police chief and a case manager. Students worked on individual cases given to us by private attorneys and Innocence Projects around the country. Throughout, we were assisted by a Supervisory Special Agent retired from the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit.

     I love to travel internationally and frequently took groups of students to study conflict resolution, human rights, and strategies for building resilience in children who have experienced trauma. We traveled to England, Sweden, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Israel, where we met with children and professionals around the country and the West Bank.

     I am a Life Status member of the American Psychological Association, a member of the Association for Moral Education, and Child Fund International.