Each therapy begins with a consultation for "goodness of fit".  I listen carefully and actively for symptoms, to history and to the experience of suffering. Deciphering patterns that may contribute to current suffering begins right away as well.  I encourage your questions so that together we can develop a collaborative treatment plan. 

This plan  may include short-term intervention or longer-term therapy, depending on the nature of problems, treatment goals, and available resources.  I like to work closely with other medical and mental health providers to ensure comprehensive care and will make referrals for medication management or other adjunctive treatments as needed. 

I use a range of treatment approaches e.g. dynamically informed psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, psychoeducation, mindfulness-based interventions, EMDR  and expressive arts in my therapeutic work.  

Insurance: I am not on insurance panels but do see clients with insurance plans who have an out-of-network option. I offer a limited sliding scale for patients who are not using their insurance.

Office Hours: I see clients on Mondays and Wednesdays early afternoons and evenings and on Tuesday mornings and afternoon.

Each session is 50 minutes unless otherwise contracted.

Parking: On street 2 hour metered parking is usually available on Massachusetts Avenue new my office or on side streets. There is a parking app for Cambridge which can be downloaded. There are also several parking garages in Harvard Square.  The closest garage is on Holyoke Street.

Organizational, Community and Large Group Consultation

I am a founding member of CONNECT ASSOCIATES, a consultation group which brings together the resources of leaders in the field of the treatment of psychological trauma to provide a broad range of services to organizations, groups and communities which have been impacted by traumatic events. CONNECT ASSOCIATES specializes in program development, vicarious and secondary traumatization, the design and implementation of crisis response plans and the design and implementation of trauma-informed and trauma sensitive workplaces. For more information about this services please visit www.theresiliencyconnection.com.

Individual or small group consultation and supervision

Through my private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts I am available for one-time or on-going consultations and supervision. 

SELECTED WORKSHOPS & TRAININGS

These are a sampling of trainings that I have offered either through my private practice or in collaboration with colleagues from CONNECT ASSOCIATES: 

Creating Resiliency ( half-day, full day & workshops series)

Understanding the Traumatic Loss & Grief in the Aftermath of    Violent Death

Vicarious trauma and Post Traumatic Resilience

An Ecological Framework for Post traumatic Intervention

Introduction to Mindfulness

The Use of the Arts for Collaborative Community Engagement

Who might benefit: mental health and health care organizations, victim service providers and advocates, community leaders, private organizations, public institutions, arts organizations and social service agencies, work place settings, community organizations, family groups, neighborhood groups, businesses, media, NGOs, EAPs, educators & first responders

Creative Community Engagement & Violence Transformed

My longstanding interest in the arts as a vehicle for social activism and promotion of resiliency led me to work with Dr Mary Harvey, Ph.D., the founder of the Victims of Violence Program, in her newest venture, Violence Transformed (VT). Violence Transformed is an annual series of visual and performing arts events that celebrate the power of art, artists and art-making to confront, challenge and mediate violence. I supported its beginnings in 2006 and have been an active participant ever since.

 My contributions to Violence Transformed include Co-Directorships with Dr Harvey of the Arthur P Gold  Foundation’s 2014-15 and 2015-16 Presidential Awards to Violence Transformed, and of the 2016-17 and 2017- 18 Victim Services Training Grant from the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance for two community-based series of trauma-informed workshops entitled “Perspectives: Transforming Violence through Mindful Artmaking”. 

Our most recent Violence Transformed collaboration is on a generous grant from The Kresge Foundation called "Stable Ground Boston". This grant was designed by Northeastern University Law School's NuLawLab, in partnership with Boston's Office of Housing Security, The Domestic Violence Initiative of Northeastern University School of Law and Violence Transformed. It will address the complex relationship between chronic housing insecurity, its traumatic psychological impact, and municipal housing policy, through participatory community-based art and culture programming that is structured to inform the work of the City of Boston’s Office of Housing Stability. The grant will embed artists, legal designers, and trauma experts into community/municipal settings to generate outcomes that contribute to local visual and performing arts exhibits and art-making events. These events will include facilitated conversations among artists, residents, activists, organizers, experts, and municipal leaders, all structured to inform existing housing services and those in development. 

If you are interested in bringing the Perspectives Workshops or other creative community engagement activities to your team or organization please contact me either by phone or email. 

Nature Connections: Mindfulness in Nature Experiences

In 2023, I began offering mindfulness sessions in the out of doors. These sessions are designed in accordance with Mark Coleman’s Awake in the Wild Teacher Training and are offered through the auspices of both The Center for Mindfulness and Compassion and the Boston Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club. Up to the date information about these offerings can be found here. 

The Center for Mindfulness and Compassion

Since 2015, I have been an Affiliate of the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC), an interdisciplinary center located the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). CMC aims to enhance the health and well-being of this hospital system  and its local community by integrating mindfulness and compassion into healthcare. I specialize in facilitating Mindfulness Groups for patients seen through CHA's Primary Care Departments.  I am frequently invited to provide workshops and help organizations integrate mindfulness practices into their organizations.  

The MINDFIT PROJECT: supporting individual, community and organizational resiliency by bringing the culture and practice of mindfulness to law enforcement and first responders.

In 2014  I began an affiliation with the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department to introduce resiliency-based mindfulness practices to both its civilian and sworn personnel. For the next three years I was "embedded" within the department offering weekly drop-in groups and private office hours. I was also invited to bring this training to the Somerville Police Department and to provide multi-day trainings and workshops for the Police Departments of neighboring communities.

For more information about bringing mindfulness practices to law enforcement and first responders, please contact me at: mindfitproject@gmail.com

**This innovative programming was initially supported by The Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance through an Anti-Terrorism Emergency Assistance Program cooperative agreement 2014-RF-GX-K002 form the Office for Victims of Crime, the Office of Justice and US Department of Justice following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

Forensic Consultation

Political Violence

For many years I have worked closely with Physicians for Human Rights providing psychological and trauma assessments for those seeking asylum in the US related to political persecution, torture, gender-based violence, human trafficking and civil unrest in their home countries. 

Civil, State and Federal Cases

In recent years I have expanded my services to include forensic consultations on cases involving child sexual abuse, sexual assault, PTSD and capital case sentencing mitigation 

These services include assessment of clients, report/declaration writing, and trial testimony. 

Over the years I have been an invited speaker or trainer  for organizations providing mental health and psychosocial support to refugees and internally displaced persons. Below are a few examples.

I have also offered support in the immediate aftermath of disasters  (Katrina Hurricane evacuees, the Haiti earthquake) and acts of terrorism ( Ground Zero support post 9/11, consulting staff of the Massachusetts Resiliency Center post Boston Marathon Bombings, and Community Crisis Response Team member post local acts of violence impacting communities and groups. 

The Seed Foundation Erbil, Kurdistan (Iraq)

The SEED Foundation, Erbil, Kurdistsan invited  Holly Aldrich, LICSW and me to join their Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services Technical Board. In December 2016 we visited the Foundation and its educational partner, Koya University.

The primary goal of our visit was to participate as technical advisors on our Board for the Center for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services at Koya University. This program is strengthening the skills of new Clinical Psychology graduates and mental health workers through the new PSS Training program. Working with policy makers and practitioners in mental health in Kurdistan, we discussed how best to teach, learn, train, and build the capacity of SEED's current and future work force. We also talked about how to use the Center to work together with others to reflect on what is and is not working and from that to develop best strategies to address Kurdistan's mental health needs emerging out of decades of violence, loss, and displacement. In addition to our consultation to Koya University we offered workshops on traumatic loss & grief for those providing psychosocial interventions for the Yezidi. 

 2nd & 3rd Annual International Conference on the Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma ( Amman, Jordan; Istanbul, Turkey) The Common Bond Institute. Workshops on Traumatic Loss and Grief. Group work with female Syrian refugees.