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I received my doctorate in clinical
psychology
from Yeshiva University Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in 1986
and am specialty-trained as a child psychologist. Previously,
I was educated at Hunter College as a Dance/Movement therapist, where I
received my Master's in 1978. I worked at
Pilgrim Psychiatric Center on Long Island and then at Brunswick
Hospital Center from 1978 until 1981, using movement to 'wake up'
institutionalized patients to their surroundings, themselves and to one
another. At Brunswick, I also worked in
the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Unit, helping recovering addicts
find and process their body-based emotions without numbing themselves. I have been in private practice as a clinical
psychologist since 1987, but also worked at Bronx Municipal Hospital
Center for three years as a child psychologist, serving in the Child
Outpatient Department as clinician, as therapist in the Therapeutic
Nursery Program for Communication disordered Children, as pediatric
liaison to Jacobi Hospital, and as consultant to the AIDS Daycare
Center at Van Etten Hospital. I then
became the school psychologist at the Solomon Schechter School of
Westchester for two years, before devoting myself solely to private
practice.
Since 1993, I have also been an instructor
for the
internationally-taught couples' program called PAIRS, which stands for
Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills.
I began as a student in a PAIRS course, and
felt compelled to
intensify my involvement in teaching couples' communication skills by
becoming an instructor. Although I no
longer teach the formal course syllabus, I often bring materials from
the course into work with couples.
Over the past seven years, the focus of my
practice has shifted from strictly psychotherapy and neuropsychological
evaluation to becoming a forensic child custody evaluator.
To date, I have preformed approximately 175
such evaluations for
the courts in Westchester, Putnam, Ulster and Kings counties in New
York. I also serve on an Interdisciplinary
Forum in Westchester County Court and have taught Judges' School and
lectured to the Family Law Section of the Westchester Bar Association.
My work has been largely influenced and
informed
by the research of the early infant development specialists, such as
Daniel Stern, Ed Tronick, Beatrice Beebe and Tiffany Fields. Their work formed the basis of my doctoral
thesis on maternal-infant interaction, and when combined with my
understanding of the development and patterning of nonverbal
communication in the social matrix, forms an essential aspect of the
mindset form which I view couples' interactions today.
The world of forensic custody evaluation has
exposed me to the
destructive power of divorce and the wrenching apart of families
involved in the judicial, legal process. I
have seen families ripped by litigation take a very long time to repair
and heal. I have been deeply committed to
searching for a saner, more human, more compassionate way for couples
to disengage from one another while preserving the integrity of the
family unit. The forum of
collaborative divorce presents an exciting opportunity for me to help
couples navigate a new path, negotiating a strategy that allow for a
peaceful, cooperative exit from the marital contract, while honoring
the delicate balance of ongoing family relationships.
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