In private practice as a professional counselor since 1993, I work with adults, older adolescents, couples, and groups in the greater Coeur d’Alene, Idaho / Spokane, Washington region as a caring, patient, results-oriented counselor, providing productive short-term therapy for clients who are hungry to take personal charge of their lives.
Long ago, before compassionate, child-centered, and effective mediation was available, I witnessed a family-crushing child custody dispute with ramifications that fractured five generations. From that point forward, I vowed to study, train, and work professionally to help protect children of divorce from the personal problems of their parents.
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
Professional Mediator
I guarantee results, with positive change usually occurring in as little as an hour!
After raising a wonderful family on a hard-working wheat farm in Idaho, I returned to finish my formal training when our youngest child left for college. I earned a Master of Science in Counseling & Human Services in 1993 and completed additional intensive high-conflict mediation training at the National Center for Mediation Education in Washington D.C. in 1992. I then opened a private practice as a Licensed Professional Counselor and National Certified Counselor in 1993. During the 1990’s as a State Supreme Court Approved Divorce & Child Custody Mediator, I pioneered the first Counselor-Mediator practice in my city, mentored other counselors as an alternative to attorney-mediators, and trained an additional 280 hours in a variety of mediation methods.
My counseling experience covers the life span and includes work with adolescents, adults, and geriatric patients at River Crest Psychiatric Hospital & Counseling Centers, public high school, the State of Idaho Dept. Health & Welfare Family & Children’s Services, and full time counseling for Vocational Resources, Inc., the 4-state Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for Regence Blue Shield. I was blessed (and thankful) that unbeknownst to me, my EAP clients reported 100% highest satisfaction on written evaluations of their counseling experience under my care.
Committed to contributing a lasting product to my profession, while studying at the University of Idaho I wrote a comprehensive master’s thesis, “The Relationship of Ego Development and Narcissistic Vulnerability to Divorce-Transition Impasse,” in cooperation with the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Based on the research and stage development theory of Piaget, Kohlberg, and Kegan as presented by Dr. Robert Kegan in his book, “The Evolving Self,” my 200-page master’s project is referenced today by judges, mediators, counselors, and attorneys working with families in conflict.
The knowledge I gained from this research with high-conflict couples, and 30 years of experience helping clients understand how developmental stage theory is alive and impacting their lives, is instrumental in my practice today as a foundation for helping others understand how our own developmental levels affect our relationships and contentment. The most common cross-stage relationship dynamic (in which partners are in different developmental stages) is one that can challenge marriages to the breaking point. I help couples see this dynamic for what it is, and we create a plan to reduce the gap and bring them closer together. We identify underlying factors that may cause couples or individuals to get stuck at impasse and become incapable of moving forward … especially important when people get hit with the “double-whammy” of divorce or personal trauma at the same time they’re in a natural transition to a higher more effective identity stage.
Also a media veteran in television advertising as a senior account executive for Disney-owned Retlaw Broadcasting and Fisher Communications since 1978, I produced award-winning campaigns and commercials for clients of all sizes, from small local direct shops in Idaho to the Seattle Symphony. In 2002 I was selected as one of Fisher Broadcasting’s 10 most accomplished long-term successful account executives among hundreds of peers, becoming a first Fisher President’s Club Top Ten member. I retired from the dual career of media and psychology in 2007 in order to devote the rest of my work life to counseling, teaching, and writing. Now, this background in media, advertising, sales training, coaching, and public relations serves to help EAP and other clients with a range of needs, from conflict resolution to writing effective communication pieces to polishing the critical interpersonal skills that are so necessary in today’s competitive workplace.
I provide customized Ego Development workshops and personalized groups when requested, and am still a hands-on media consultant and communications trainer. I can deliver entertaining presentations on whatever anyone wants, and lastly, I am setting the stage to write the following books:
I am the mother of three, grandmother of seven, and great-grandmother of ten, a lifelong snow and water skier, skydiver, former heavy equipment operator, 40-year community volunteer, School Board Chairman, Rotarian, voracious reader, writer, photographer, and all-around proponent of living life to its fullest. In this light, I’m thrilled to have a career in which helping others live completely and happily is the mission.
Ego Matters Counseling & Mediation
Ph: (425) 223-2828 (Voice & Text) Fax: (208) 292-4118
Email: [email protected]
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