Background
Many people have asked me how I came to specialize in bereavement, or how I came to specialize in working with first responders. The two are closely related.
I began my journey as a therapist and researcher with a dedication to cross-cultural issues. Having grown up in a bi-cultural family in France, and having traveled back and forth between the US and France every year as a child, I became acutely aware of multicultural issues at an early age. This likely contributed to my early passion for psychology: I wanted to understand how people thought and interacted with one another so I could navigate the culture shocks I was experiencing. As I began my training in psychology, I was naturally drawn to cross-cultural issues, as well as working with international students. I had also experienced the childhood trauma of the death of a parent, and through my own grief journey, I became an advocate for the care of the bereaved, through my clinical work as well as my research.
While working on my doctorate in clinical psychology, my passions led me to working on a federal grant to serve 9/11 families and first responders involved in 9/11. In December of 2002 I was trained in CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) with my colleague Dr. Lynda Bolduc-Hicks from the Cambridge Health Alliance's Victims of Violence Program. At that training, we met Firefighter John "Spike" Lawless of the Cambridge Fire Department and the three of us began talking about the needs of firefighters. Over the course of the next few years, we developed together the First Responder Wellness Program, a series of in-house wellness workshops focused on fitness, nutrition, stress management, and secondary trauma and self-care, tailored to the wellness needs of firefighters. With Meghan Gehan, LCSW, Beth-Anne Farrow, MPH, CTRS, CHES, Lynda, and I delivered this program to three large Metro Boston fire departments until, alas, the funding ran out in 2008.
During that time, I was also a clinician on the MetroBoston Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team. The MetroBoston CISM Team offers free, confidential, on site pre-incident trainings and post-incident crisis interventions to law enforcement, fire department, EMS, and ER hospital staff members. In August 2011, I rejoined the team as their Clinical Coordinator, where I provided oversight, consultation, and training in matters pertaining to mental health to the members of the Team, and assist with various interventions, as needed and pro-bono. In 2013, I decided to pass on the reins of leadership to my colleague Dr. Mabel Lam, and enjoyed the role of simply being a clinician on the team.
After receiving my doctorate, I joined the staff of the On-Site Academy, an outservice and residential program exclusively for emergency services and military personnel coping with critical incident stress and/or addictions. For four years, I did individual and group crisis interventions and counseling work with police, firefighters, EMTs, ER staff, combat veterans, and a variety of other first responders. In addition, I had the opportunity to teach workshops on stress and addictions to EMS personnel.
I also had a private practice in Lexington, where I worked with adults, undergraduate and graduate students, international students, and first responders, around challenges such as bereavement, depression, anxiety, relationship issues, wellness, trauma, and navigating life in the US.
I began my journey as a therapist and researcher with a dedication to cross-cultural issues. Having grown up in a bi-cultural family in France, and having traveled back and forth between the US and France every year as a child, I became acutely aware of multicultural issues at an early age. This likely contributed to my early passion for psychology: I wanted to understand how people thought and interacted with one another so I could navigate the culture shocks I was experiencing. As I began my training in psychology, I was naturally drawn to cross-cultural issues, as well as working with international students. I had also experienced the childhood trauma of the death of a parent, and through my own grief journey, I became an advocate for the care of the bereaved, through my clinical work as well as my research.
While working on my doctorate in clinical psychology, my passions led me to working on a federal grant to serve 9/11 families and first responders involved in 9/11. In December of 2002 I was trained in CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) with my colleague Dr. Lynda Bolduc-Hicks from the Cambridge Health Alliance's Victims of Violence Program. At that training, we met Firefighter John "Spike" Lawless of the Cambridge Fire Department and the three of us began talking about the needs of firefighters. Over the course of the next few years, we developed together the First Responder Wellness Program, a series of in-house wellness workshops focused on fitness, nutrition, stress management, and secondary trauma and self-care, tailored to the wellness needs of firefighters. With Meghan Gehan, LCSW, Beth-Anne Farrow, MPH, CTRS, CHES, Lynda, and I delivered this program to three large Metro Boston fire departments until, alas, the funding ran out in 2008.
During that time, I was also a clinician on the MetroBoston Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team. The MetroBoston CISM Team offers free, confidential, on site pre-incident trainings and post-incident crisis interventions to law enforcement, fire department, EMS, and ER hospital staff members. In August 2011, I rejoined the team as their Clinical Coordinator, where I provided oversight, consultation, and training in matters pertaining to mental health to the members of the Team, and assist with various interventions, as needed and pro-bono. In 2013, I decided to pass on the reins of leadership to my colleague Dr. Mabel Lam, and enjoyed the role of simply being a clinician on the team.
After receiving my doctorate, I joined the staff of the On-Site Academy, an outservice and residential program exclusively for emergency services and military personnel coping with critical incident stress and/or addictions. For four years, I did individual and group crisis interventions and counseling work with police, firefighters, EMTs, ER staff, combat veterans, and a variety of other first responders. In addition, I had the opportunity to teach workshops on stress and addictions to EMS personnel.
I also had a private practice in Lexington, where I worked with adults, undergraduate and graduate students, international students, and first responders, around challenges such as bereavement, depression, anxiety, relationship issues, wellness, trauma, and navigating life in the US.