The work I currently do through Deliberate Dialogues feels like the job that my whole life prepared me for. In the 1990’s (at Lancaster County Case Management) my adult clients with developmental disabilities captured my heart completely, and pushed me towards studying the brain because I wanted to understand how we might best help them to have the best life possible. My years in graduate school helped me understand  how the brain, body and early experience come together to make us who we are.

Six years of Christian service amongst incarcerated youth in California demonstrated something I already knew first hand, that what happens in our early lives matters a lot!  Indifferent, distressed, addicted, mentally ill, traumatized and/or emotionally or physically violent parents are not capable of meeting the emotional and psychological needs of their own children.  Abuse and neglect do significant harm that might take a person their lifetime to unravel and recover from.  Finally, living and serving in Cambodia for 2 years introduced me to an entire country that in the recent past faced immeasurable violence and loss that leaves profound marks upon peoples’ hearts, minds and souls, but also, amazingly, spurs people on towards resilience and healing 

Today I am able to bring my own experiences as a survivor, my contemplations of Jesus and the horror he faced in the garden and on the cross, my observations and relationships with other trauma survivors in many different contexts, together with what we know about trauma and the brain.  And such understanding can lead survivors and their communities to new, life-affirming, resilient practices.  Trauma does not have to have the last word in our lives.  It is possible to find new pathways towards healing and hope, and it starts with open, honest, deliberate dialogue in brave spaces where we share from our hearts, learn from each other, and keep reaching for the light.

My Training:  I have a BA in Psychology from Millersville University (in Pennsylvania), and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Iowa (in Iowa City).  I also have been trained as a STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) facilitator as well as a First Aid Arts facilitator.  I use materials from all these sources and more as I seek to find practices that can help trauma survivors and their communities recover, and heal.