Simmons College

Clinical Associate Professor

B.A., Barnard College  
M.S.W, Smith College 
Ph.D., Simmons College

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After 23 years as an adjunct lecturer I am delighted to be joining the full time faculty at Simmons School of Social Work. When Professor Sophie Freud initially suggested that I teach the Psychopathology course while I was a doctoral candidate at Simmons, I told her that I had never really considered teaching and wasn’t sure it was such a good idea. She countered with, “this is an offer you can’t refuse,” and her wisdom was clear as I quickly found that teaching became one of the great pleasures of my social work career.

Following graduation from Smith School for Social Work, I worked for almost 20 years at a community mental health center in a poor and working class town. My clinical work was with adults, families, groups and emergency services, and I dealt with a variety of issues including many people with severe mental illness. During that time Cambodian refugees moved into the community and we were actively involved in trying to provide culturally sensitive mental health services to them.

I often tell people that I went into the family business because both my parents were social workers. From them I learned that one of the great strengths of our profession is the enormous diversity of arenas and perspectives from which to practice and how these venues and perspectives can be combined or change over time. For instance, currently I have a private practice while also teaching and consulting.

Like many others in our field, the direction of my work has been constantly evolving. Initially after graduation, I received training and became very involved with family therapy. Later, as I became more attuned to connecting the various parts of myself in my work, I wove in my curiosity about integrating spiritual/religious issues and psychotherapy. I joined the Jewish Therapists Network and taught in the Certificate Program for Jewish Communal and Clinical Social Work at Simmons. Other areas of special interest to me have included social work ethics, working with couples, and the use of movies as a powerful learning tool. Appreciating the meaning of work and the workplace was a central focus during the ten years that I consulted to the staff at the Federal Employee Assistance Program.

Most recently, I have been intrigued with relational aspects of social work supervision. I have given presentations and consulted on this topic and in the summers I teach in the Certificate Program for Advanced Clinical Supervision at Smith School for Social Work. While I no longer supervise students and staff in an agency setting, I have been able to continue a significant amount of supervision within my private practice. Missing my connection to community mental health, for the last few years I have done clinical consulting to some staff at South Shore Mental Health Center, which affords me the ability to work again in an area I love.

As I become part of the faculty at Simmons, I intend to continue a part of my private practice. I believe that to most effectively teach I need to be involved directly in the work. I have found Simmons to be a wonderfully supportive, interesting and committed community that truly cares about helping students to be involved, thoughtful social workers. I am eager to become a part of this community and to contribute to the professional growth of future social workers.

List of Degrees:

B.A., Barnard College 1975
M.S.W., Smith College 1978
Ph.D., Simmons College 1993

Courses:

414 Assessment and Diagnosis
569 Advanced Standing Seminar
536 Perspectives on Severe Mental Illness
421 Social work Practice I and II

Presentations from last 2 years:

2010 Relational Supervision, South Shore Mental Health Center
2010 Relational Supervision, Dana Farber Social Work Department
2009 The Use of Film in Supervision, South Shore Mental Health Center