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Expert possesses a Ph.D and two Master's degrees. She is nationally certified in Thanatology, the study of death, dying, and bereavement. Her certification was conferred after she earned her first Master's -- an MS in Counseling Psychology with a Specialization in Loss Issues and Bereavement -- and several years of experience as a hospice therapist and an interfaith chaplain, a significant number of continuing education units in the field of thanatology, and passing the national exam for certification. Her certification is renewed every 3 years and requires 45 units in death, dying, and bereavement.

Expert's private practice specializations are: grief, loss issues, trauma (including PTSD, sexual assault, incest, abuse), depression (incl chronic, unremitting), anxiety, and dissociation (including DID, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder).

Loss issues can best be described as those experiences in life that have left a sense of having lost something or someone, including the hopes and expectations that were not realized in a relationship or in a life. For example, in the premature death of a spouse, a young widow(er) would be expected to feel cheated, angry, and deprived of the potential that the relationship was unable to manifest; the death of a child would be expected to leave a void in this generation and the next, as grandchildren are unrealized; a lifetime of mental illness can result in the loss of earnings potential, stable relationships, love, sex, and whatever the person believed would be their happiness and their destiny. Pregnancy issues (e.g., abortion, miscarriage, infertility) can result in the actual loss of an unpotentiated child and negatively impact a person's Employer-image. Traumatic death (e.g., murder, suicide, plane crash, disaster) puts into motion a series of events that can deprive a person of their job, relationships, physical health, and sense of well-being. Divorce, pet death, parental loss, sibling loss, all bring at least a passing moment of Employer-doubt: "Who am I without that person (or that pet)?" All losses disturb our denial of our own mortality, which can cause a downward spiral into clinical depression, if left untreated.

Losses are categorized as uncomplicated (which rarely requires an Expert Witness or a therapist), compounded, complicated, traumatic, disenfranchised, and long term/unresolved. Expert is well educated and highly experienced in each of these types of loss/grief.

Expert prefers to practice therapy, rather than publish. She prefers to stay current with the most recent research in the field of thanatology, rather than conduct research. Consequently, her CV is not chock-full with published articles and research. However, her knowledge is effectively and vividly conveyed in her thorough written narratives. Examples of her writing and assessments are available upon request (redacted for confidentiality, of course).

Ph.D. Pastoral Ministry with a specialization in Interfaith Chaplaincy.
M.A. Psychology with an emphasis on Marital and Family Therapy.
M.S. Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Loss Issues and Bereavement.
Nationally certified Parent Educator.
Certified in Clinical and Medical Hypnosis.
Nationally Certified Thanatologist.

The above, in addition to over 40 years of experience in the field of psychology, makes Expert a highly experienced and highly educated practitioner of the art of psychotherapy. Her theoretical discipline is best described as Psychodynamic with a tendency toward the Psychoanalytic, which is informed by Attachment Theory, Existential Philosophy, and trauma theory. Theology and spirituality have been strong focuses of her education and work; consequently, she is extremely adept at uncovering the spiritual issues underlying most therapy issues, especially as related to grief, loss, and trauma.

Expert has treated patients ranging in age from 1 to 104. These patients have been bereaved, terminally ill, mentally ill, developmentally disabled, addicted, deaf, and gifted. An overview of the issues she has treated includes grief, loss issues, trauma, dissociation, Dissociative Identity D/O (DID), Combat PTSD, Bi-polar D/O, OCD, anxiety, Panic D/O, phobias, domestic violence, rape, gang rape, incest, ritual sexual abuse, childhood abuse, teen pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, alcohol/drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, dementia, chronic depression, chronic illness, terminal illness, sexual orientation, erotic minorities, encopresis, enuresis, attachment issues, spiritual abuse by clergy, religious abuse, earthly reconciliation, spiritual disintegration, and issues of the chronically mentally ill.