I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). I have been in this field for 25+ years. I work with adults in individual, couples, family or group settings.
EDUCATION
I have a Masters of Science in Social Work from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Graduate School of Social Work. I have specialized training and experience in Anxiety, Depression, Domestic Violence, Divorce Adjustment and Parenting Through Divorce.
EXPERIENCE
I have been practicing for about two and a half decades. After my children started high school, I began training and served as a volunteer court advocate with YWCA’s Domestic Violence Program, took some graduate counseling courses and then decided to enroll in the Graduate School of Social Work to become a therapist.
Experiences while in training included working with Vanderbilt’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic providing therapy to children and their parents, some forensic experiences, and teaching the Children Cope With Divorce 4-hour seminars required for couples with children who were divorcing in the State of Tennessee.
I began working in an outpatient mental health counseling center upon graduation and provided individual, couples and family counseling as well as leading therapeutic support groups. I also trained and was certified as a Rule 31 Family Mediator during this time. I coordinated the Children Facing Divorce program (8-week therapeutic support groups for children separated by developmental stage and also with a group for parents), Children in Divorce (8-week therapeutic support groups for children within elementary and middle schools who had experienced divorce), Children in Bereavement (8-week therapeutic support groups in the schools who had experienced a family member’s death). I wrote the curricula and supervised and trained the therapists in this work. I also counseled survivors of Domestic Violence at the agency and those residing in women’s shelters and led therapeutic support groups for female survivors of domestic abuse in both the women’s shelter and the agency.
I left the mental health outpatient counseling center to be the EAP Counselor for St. Thomas West Hospital. This transitioned me to working full time with adults as I was the onsite counselor offered as a benefit for any employee seeking counseling support who worked for St. Thomas. I directed the Domestic Violence Awareness Program for physicians and nurses while at St. Thomas.
In 2006, I made the decision to go into adult private practice and joined a large medical practice in Nashville where I spent fourteen years working with many lovely people presenting with a variety of concerns as my practice was an adult general practice.
When I am not at work, I enjoy spending time with my husband, our four adult children and their spouses and our ELEVEN beautiful grandchildren! We are very active, have a background in music, enjoy working out and traveling as often as we can.