About Me

 

I received my Ph.D. at Duke University in 1999 in clinical psychology with a concentration on health and the challenges faced by medical patients. Following an internship at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, I completed a fellowship in cancer prevention and control at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York City.

For 9 years, I worked at the VA Medical Center in Manhattan, providing clinical services in palliative care, dialysis, oncology, rehab medicine, substance abuse and primary care as well as clinical supervision to new therapists. At the VA, I began working with mindfulness-based approaches to managing stress and life challenges and completed additional training in MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction), ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based psychotherapy (see below). 

In addition to work as a psychologist, I am an artist, working in several mediums including photography, painting, drawing, and writing.

 

Mindfulness-Related Trainings:

  • Skills Training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy: The Essentials- with Adam Payne, May 2017
  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction- an 8-week course with Jon Aaron, January 2016.
  • Somatic Experiencing Training, Beginner 1- New York, NY January 2016
  • Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy- A 5-Day Training for the Prevention of Depression Relapse Omega Institute, with Zindel Seigal and Susan Woods, Summer 2015
  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction- an 8-week course with Elaine Retholtz at the Manhattan JCC, 2011.
  • 9-day Intensive Practicum in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction 
Living Inside Participant-Practitioner Perspectives at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at UMass Medical School with Melissa Blacker and Florence Meleo-Meyer, 2011.
  • 7-day Professional Training Retreat in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction in Mind-Body Medicine with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli, Omega Institute, 2009.
  • Online Courses with Ronald Siegel: Mindfulness and Psychotherapy (2007) and Advanced Topics in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy (2008), offered through the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine.
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Sonja Battan (2008).