ABOUT

"Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud" Maya Angelou

I am a licensed clinical psychologist, certified Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapist, trained in therapy for Prolonged Grief Disorder, and a board certified registered art therapist. I am a magna cum laude graduate of Smith College, with a masters degree in art therapy from New York University, and a masters and doctorate in clinical/school psychology from the Derner Institute at Adelphi University where I received the Kalike Research Award. My diverse professional training includes Bellevue and other New York state and city inpatient and outpatient settings for children, adolescents, and adults. In my private practice I work with individuals of all ages with relationship, emotional, and behavioral problems, in addition to having particular expertise in issues related to cancer, illness, trauma and bereavement.

Currently I am also the Assistant Director of Public Education and Bereavement at Child HELP Partnership at St. John's University. For over 12 years I was the Executive Director and Bereavement Program Director of a child and family community bereavement program, A Caring Hand, Founded in Memory of Billy Esposito. Prior to this I was Director of Family Programs, Voices of September 11th and consulted to the Department of Defense Educational Opportunities Directorate and National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Previously I held the position of Clinical Associate Professor in Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, and Director of Bereavement Programs, Public Education and the National Child Mental Health Initiative, and AboutOurKids.org at the NYU Child Study Center. I established the Child Life Program in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital and developed the behavioral health service of the Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at NYU Medical Center.

To develop the field, I have held leadership positions at state and national professional organizations and served as the Chair of the NY State Psychological Association Disaster Response Network. My wide ranging public education and media experience includes being a specialist on psychology, parent, child, and bereavement topics as a Contributor to the CBS Early Show and Psychologist and Family Editor at MSNBC. Over the years I have made hundreds of appearances on national and local television, including the Today Show, ABC Primetime and World News Now, Good Day New York, Oprah, and provided guidance in print, including Ladies Home Journal, Working Mother, Child, Parents, and Seventeen.

I have published in various professional journals, taught, and lectured in the U.S. and abroad on mental health, grief, illness, and art therapy and authored over 100 online articles for the general public. I wrote and developed Caring for Kids After Trauma and Death: A Guide for Parents and Professionals, used throughout the country following 9/11 and served as a youth panel expert for the White House Initiative on Mental Health. Book credits include The Day Our World Changed: Children’s Art of 9/11, and Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery and Hope and the children's books, Ready to Remember: Jeremy's Journey of Hope and Healing and Rosie Remembers Mommy: Forever in Her Heart.