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B. Bridge, LMFTJ. Tesik, MAK. O'Connor, LMHCA. Hepburn, Ph.D.Links |
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Searching for someone to help us through the journey of grief can be a difficult process in itself. By sharing some of my own background and experience, I hope that you may get a better sense of whether this might feel like a good “fit” for you.
My own experiences of loss are numerous, but I feel that what essentially began my own journey into this work was the death of my parents – seven weeks apart - when I was 24. My “formal” introduction to the field came in about 1980 when I met Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and took a workshop with her. I then became a hospice volunteer, and later founded and directed a hospice in central Arizona; I been involved in the bereavement community in the Seattle area since moving to the Northwest in the mid-1980’s.
In the 1990’s I served as the Bereavement Specialist at Evergreen Hospice for a time, and created a Bereavement program at Stevens Hospital in my own community of Edmonds. I have been teaching a Loss and Grief class to prospective counselors at Antioch University Seattle for over 20 years. I also teach a class on Psychology and Spirituality, and consider an inclusive spirituality to be essential to the way I work – whether or not this dimension is ever named as such. In grief this dimension often unfolds as a search for meaning.
I have a Masters degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in Learning Disabilities, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Human Development.
As the Director of a federal grant project at Shoreline Community College, I also gained a much-needed understanding of the diverse loss and grief experiences of immigrants and refugees.
Currently, I work with individual clients around all kinds of losses, life transitions, trauma, and personal and spiritual growth. I draw on a variety of approaches, such as EMDR, dream work, body awareness, inner parts work, and mindfulness. My work provides a safe container for each person to experience and move through the bodily responses, painful emotions, anxiety and confusion, and spiritual experiences that may arise in response to loss and life changes. I also bring a perspective that honors the ways in which pain and loss may expand and deepen our sense of who we are, and of the meaning and purpose of our lives.
I bring a compassionate presence to my clients, along with the skills I have learned. Each person is unique, and so is each journey of healing and growth. I feel it is my privilege to be engaged in this work, and I am grateful for all the ways in which it also continues to contribute to my own personal and spiritual growth.
Because I do not take insurance, I keep my hourly fee relatively moderate, and am willing to try and find a financial arrangement that works if that is needed.
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