My first passion in clinical psychology, which remains ongoing, is family therapy.  I am fortunate to have been taught and supervised by experts such as Denver psychologist Donna Follansbee, Ph.D., Stanford University faculty Mary Sanders, Ph.D., and Denver Children’s Home supervisors Mike Sobocinski, Ph.D., Jerry Yager, Psy.D., and Kathy Johnson, LCSW.

Family systems theory provides a unique perspective on healthy and less-healthy aspects of human development.  I teach Family Therapy to graduate students getting their doctorates in clinical psychology at the University of Denver, and supervise them as they see clinical cases.  Family therapy takes into account relationship patterns in families, recognizing strengths of each members, and how those positive attributes strengthen the functioning of each member of the family.  Likewise, when one person struggles, it can have a reverberating effect throughout the family.  Tracking those reverberations, and looking for ways to intervene to change patterns, is an important component of providing family therapy.

link: Teaching Family Therapy at the University of Denver

link to description of family therapy: Family Therapy link

link to description of systems theory: Systems Theory