Once people have healed, I am available to help them pursue a personal, long-term, vision of the life they want to lead and the person they want to be. 

My passion has driven me to serve people as a therapist, teacher, scientist, and consultant. Regardless of how I’m serving people, I believe in a person’s ability to change and become a happier and more fulfilled person. Nothing gives me greater joy than watching that happen. 

Over the years, I have had unique opportunities to advance the science and practice of therapy.

As a Research Associate, I was part of a team that assessed the impact of homicide, suicide, and death by motor vehicle accident on family members and significant others with a special emphasis on understanding the formation and path of secondary trauma.

I was a Member of the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Training Psychologists to Work with Crime Victims which recommended the qualifications for psychologists working with survivors of crime. 

In the aftermath of 9/11, I developed a unique protocol to support the emotional needs and mitigate the stress of returning to work in the World Financial Center adjacent to the destroyed Twin Towers. Over 5,000 people returned to work after completing my protocol.

In addition, I provided trauma-informed psychotherapy to survivors, family members and first-responders.

I have led treatment and mental fitness interventions “on-the-ground” in responding to cluster suicides, the Newtown School shooting, tornadoes including an EF5, and Hurricane Sandy. In these situations, I was often one of a very few – if not the only – therapist serving large groups of people who had endured terrible loss. In response to these situations, I developed population interventions allowing me to work with groups of 100 or more as well as continuing to provide individual psychotherapy.

I was a faculty member at Cornell University and continue to be a guest lecturer at leading universities including Notre Dame, Carnegie Mellon, CalTech, MIT, and Penn State.

I also do a monthly segment on Good Day LA providing advice on how to improve the emotional well-being of self and others.