- Hartford Hospital
School of Nursing, Class of 1973, RN Diploma
- Southern Connecticut State
University, Class of 1976, BS Psychology
- St Joseph College, Class of 1988,
MSN Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
- APRN Certification, 1993, Hartford
Hospital
I have worked as a registered nurse
since 1973 in a variety of settings. I worked as an oncology nurse on a research unity at
Yale New Haven Hospital for five years and later worked as a Hospice Home
Care Nurse for several years.
Since 1978 I have worked with
children and adolescents all over the United States.
My husband and I ran a group home for developmentally disabled
children in Flagstaff, Arizona for two years, and we also ran a group home
for emotionally disturbed teenagers for Monterey County in California for
two years. We lived with the
kids and we therefore had an opportunity to be able to "walk in their
shoes," so to speak.
Both experiences taught me a great
deal about kids' behaviors and feelings and the importance of trust,
patience, and unconditional positive regard. I also learned that although both populations had "basic
needs," their needs had to be met in very different ways...there was not
a cookie-cutter method that worked for everyone...it was not "one size
fits all!" I was
transformed and inspired by these experiences and they deeply impacted me
both personally and professionally.
The last 17 years have been devoted
to working with children and adolescents in both acute inpatient and
outpatient settings. While
getting my Master's degree, I worked at the Institute of Living, one of
the oldest psychiatric hospitals in America. I was privileged to have many mentors and opportunities
during my six years there, including helping to start the Children's Day
Treatment Center and the Jaycee Neuropsychiatric Center with Dr. Tony
Andrulonis, a very special person and mentor.
I have been an Associate Faculty
member at St Joseph College
in West Hartford since 1992. I
have mentored graduate students in both the Master of Nursing and the
Master of Counseling programs and the Bachelor Degree program.
For fun I relax with my husband on
our small farm in the country and raise Irish Wolfhounds and work in my
gardens. We also have 2
horses, a new kitty, a saltwater fish tank, some crazy chickens and guinea
hens and 5 finches! Our
animals are very important to us and help give us the strength to do the
hard work that we do.
In 1992, a colleague and I started
a private practice for children and adolescents specializing in
individual, group, and family therapy. It was during the next eight years that I saw an increased need for
"intensive socialization programs" and developed a summer program that
gradually evolved into what is now the FOCUS Alternative Learning Center,
which has been open full-time since September 2000!
My work at FOCUS has been some of
the hardest, yet best work in my life so far.
The staff and volunteers that make up the team are awesome to work
with. We know how to take
care of each other so that we can then take care of the kids.
We are open, honest, and accepting of each other, good and bad.
That doesn't mean that we always get along and that there
aren't issue...we just deal with things as they arise.
The kids and families that are part
of our "community" are so special and unique.
Every day, they teach us so much about what they know and what it
is like to be "them." The
kids thrive in the program because it makes sense to them and the feel
safe at FOCUS. Please browse
the rest of the website to learn more about the staff, the kids, and the
program. |
