About Me

I’m a licensed mental health counselor in New York State, with more than 35 years experience, but you should know that’s not all that I have done.

I moved to Western New York State when I was 19. I built a house, farmed, and started a small lumber company.

When I got tired of making little pieces of wood out of big pieces of wood, I went to Empire State College and got a degree in psychology. I interned at a Veteran’s Administration chemical dependency unit. My first job was working with troubled adolescents in a group home. I was an employment counselor for a while, took calls on a crisis line, facilitated group therapy for male sex offenders, and was employed as a therapist at a program for people with severe mental illnesses.

I completed a master’s degree in education with an emphasis on counseling from Alfred University.

For twenty years, I provided psychotherapy in a community mental health center in Rochester, NY, known first as Depaul, then St Mary’s, then Unity, and now, Rochester Regional.

I studied at the Family Therapy Institute at the University of Rochester, and completed a certification program in drug and alcohol counseling associated with SUNY Brockport.

I was one of a small group of people who developed one of the earliest programs to integrate mental health and chemical addiction (MICA or Dual Disorders) treatment. I have given talks and lectures in the community on the topic. I also worked at bringing tobacco counseling to mental health and substance abuse treatment.

I’ve done a lot of writing about ways to improve your relationships and become the person you would like to be. My newest book is The Road to Reconciliation: A Comprehensive Guide to Peace When Relationships Go Bad, and I published a workbook connected to it titled, How to Make an Apology You’ll Never Have to Make Again. An earlier self-help book was Constructive Conflict: Building Something Good Out of All Those Arguments.

I’ve also written three novels, Who Killed the Lisping Barista of the Epiphany Café?, Intersections and Fate’s Janitors: Mopping Up Madness at a Mental Health Clinic.

I also have a blog you can find on this website. In it, I post announcements and new things I’m working on.

And I’ve raised a family of four children.

In 2010 I resigned from my job at the community mental health clinic to start a private practice.

I provide free counseling for Spiritus Christi Mental Health Clinic.

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