Workshops

I present workshops to a variety of groups including mental health professionals, church congregations and community agency workers, and volunteers.  Although I present on a variety of topics, here is a sample of some of the workshops I give regularly. I can certainly present on other or related topics so feel free to email me to discuss interests and possibilities.

Helping Couples Change Quickly (for mental health professionals)

A comprehensive guide to marital therapy using the Restoration Therapy model.  Helps therapist quickly identify identity and safety patterns that lock couples into destructive interactions and helps them change using self-regulation practices

Reprogramming Your Relationship (for lay, church or civic audiences)

This workshop focuses on helping couples find the root causes of instability in their relationships and put an end to old patterns that are the real conflict behind every conflict.

Restoration Therapy: Guiding Healing in Marriage and Family Therapy (for mental health professionals)

A comprehensive guide to using the efficient elements of the Restoration Therapy Model including understanding destructive identity and safety patterns and helping clients achieve emotional regulation.  This model is powerful in helping clients make long lasting and significant changes.

Families and Forgiveness (for mental health professionals)

A comprehensive guide to train therapists to help clients do the hard work of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is presented as a method of repairing love and trust in relationships through the stations of Insight, Understanding, Giving the Opportunity for Compensation, and Overt Forgiving.

Relational Restoration and Forgiveness (for lay, church or civic audiences)

This workshop focuses on the work of forgiveness in restoring love and trust to relationships.  The process is presented through the stations of Insight, Understanding, Giving the Opportunity for Compensation, and Overt Forgiving.

Relational Restoration after Infidelity (for mental health professionals, lay, church or civic audiences)

This workshop focuses on helping couples who have experienced an infidelity walk the difficult road of healing and reconciliation.  Practical and realistic objectives aimed at rebuilding couple trustworthiness.

Caring for and Loving Your Aging Parent (for lay, church or civic audiences)

This workshop helps participants with the practical knowledge of not only how to take care of their aging parent physically but also deal with the myriad of emotional issues that are present.

Working through Grief and Loss (for mental health professionals, lay, church or civic audiences)

This workshop helps participants focus on grief work on complicated areas and targets specific techniques that help move toward successful transitions.

Individual and Marital Therapy

I am licensed in the states of California and Texas as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFC #47906, CA; MFT #364, TX).  I am also licensed in the state of Texas as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC #10541, TX).  In addition to my licensures, I am a Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

I have been in practice since 1986 and have a Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University in marriage & family therapy.  I also hold M.A. degrees from Southwestern Baptist Seminary and West Texas A&M University.  I specialize in the treatment of marital, intergeneration, reconciliation and gerontology issues.   Although these are the areas of my specialization, I am also very familiar with treating a variety of common problems such as anxiety or depression.

In addition to my counseling practice, I am an approved supervisor in both California and Texas and provide supervision and consultation to interns and practitioners. I am a full-time Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Theological Seminary.  I see only a few clients a week due to my limited time, so I do not always have appointments immediately available.

 

Intensives

A significant part of my marital therapy practice is done through marital intensives.  Intensives are done with a group of four couples in a sequestered environment for four days.  The therapy is intense but usually yields substantial progress as couples find the root issues in their problems and begin to practice new alternatives.  The group format offers companionship and support as couples deal with difficult issues.  I am part of the staff at The Hideaway Experience in California and Texas (www.thehideawayexperience.com).  If you are interested in participating in a marital intensive, please contact The Hideaway for more information regarding scheduling and cost.