About

I am a psychotherapist, coach and behavioral health consultant, with over twenty years’ experience working in the areas of research, policy, and behavioral health counseling.

I first worked as a psychotherapist from 2008-2010 at Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston, MA. This experience was formative for me in understanding the disproportionate incarceration of African American and Latinx people in the United States. This experience also shaped my understanding of the connection of mind and body health. The deleterious impacts of incarceration was reflected in both the poor physical and mental health of incarcerated people.

Working in the corrections environment fueled my research while obtaining my PhD in Social Welfare at the University of Pennsylvania from 2012-17, and while working as an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work from 2017-2022. My research focused on the development and evaluation of interventions for people with substance use disorders and associated challenges such as criminal and legal system involvement. For example, I was the principal investigator of a randomized controlled trial piloting yoga for returning citizens with substance use disorders and HIV. The study found that people randomized to yoga experienced significant reductions in both stress and substance use. I also co-designed mindfulness and yoga curricula for women in jail and women receiving methadone.

Core to my work is a dedication to anti-racism and anti-oppression. As a white woman I am committed to my own learning and dismantling of white supremacy and infusing this awareness in my work so that all members of society have access to health and well-being.