When I was 13 years old I had an amazing experience. While mowing the front lawn I began thinking intensely about what I wanted to do when I grew up.

In a flash of inspiration I began thinking about the people I admired. One who stood out was my junior high school Civics teacher Mr. Schreck. He really had the gift of enthusiasm and a way about him that made learning fun and exciting. As I thought about him, something in me just opened up and I knew with total certainty that I wanted to teach.

I finished high school, went on to get a bachelor’s degree in English and Education, and discovered that what I loved most about being in a classroom was empowering my students to become the best and happiest people they could become. I spent as much time counseling them as I did teaching them English and Journalism. That led me on to my graduate degrees in Counseling and Applied Human Development.

As I began my work as a counselor I also discovered the importance of spirituality and spiritual practices in my own growth and healing and in the counseling process with my clients. During the early 1970’s this was a somewhat radical idea for an East Coast therapist.

My journey into the world of the transpersonal or spiritual domain of human development took me to an Indian meditation master who changed my life, my inner experience and set me on both an inner and outer journey that continues to this day.

I have become a mystic, a healer, a meditation teacher and an expert on spiritual awakening and human development. I specialize in integrating the understandings and experiences of cross cultural perspectives on spiritual awakening and practices into the counseling process.

As a doctoral student, I did ground breaking research on kundalini awakening and human development at Teachers College, Columbia University during a time when no one knew anything about spiritual awakening. My work in this arena has permeated my teaching both during my years as a graduate school faculty member in Counseling and School Psychology at Southern Connecticut State University, and in my teaching, consulting and supervision work with agencies and organizations both in the U.S. and internationally.

I bring a unique combination of understanding and experience of spirituality to my work as a counselor, a healer, a trainer and a consultant to individuals and organizations. In addition to being a licensed professional counselor, I am also a Certified Yuen Method Practitioner, a Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress, an ICISF approved Critical Incident Stress Management instructor, a long time Meditation Teacher, and the current Master Teacher and practitioner of the Shakti Swarupa Path of Healing.

Most of all, however, I am a mystic healer who is committed to serving others in their journey to wholeness, happiness and success in life.

As I entered my elder years, I became more aware of my true purpose as a mystic and healer. The first inkling of this awareness leapt into my consciousness sometime in the first couple of years of my work as a professional counselor. I had had a succession of “Ah Hah” experiences in working with my clients in which the energy in the room would intensify and both my client and I would be lifted beyond the conversation to a recognition of something bigger than both of us that was propelling the client into a new level of self-recognition and healing.

I began to realize that there was a Self in all of us that was totally whole, totally healthy and totally knowledgeable about this process of bringing us home to our own wellness, clarity and power. I had the experience of this energetic opening outside the counseling context as well when skiing and sailing—you know it was like all of the elements of Nature, my body and my inner awareness were, at least for an instant, in total harmony. In these moments I would experience a rush of energy and bliss that was beyond words. My problem was that I did not know how to access this Inner Self at will.

Western psychological approaches had nothing to teach me about this. Then in 1976 I met Swami Muktananda. Not only was he speaking about that same Self in the very words that I had been thinking about it, but by awakening my inner spiritual energy and providing me with the spiritual practices of meditation, chanting, study of the ancient eastern yogic texts and his teachings gave me the way to access that Self at will.

He also opened the doorway to a life long journey by suggesting to me that psychologists needed to learn about meditation, the Self and the kundalini—the inner spiritual energy. I was at the beginning of articulating my doctoral dissertation topic at the time. I seized the opportunity to do research on kundalini, full well realizing that the only way I could begin to do this was to plunge myself into the spiritual practices, spend time studying, learning and practicing in India with Muktananda.

Off I went to live in Muktananda’s ashram in India for 3 months—fully approved for 12 credits of doctoral work. My commitment to the inner journey was rewarded with experiences of lights, visions, merging with the Self, a deepening of the experiential knowledge of the kundalini process and of my own self as being greater than I ever imagined.

I continue to this day to be gifted with the wonders of the inner mystical journey. My professional path deepened as well. With the emerging recognition of the power of the inner spiritual energy to heal the mind, the body and the spirit I became fully committed to understanding and pursuing the integration of mind, body and spirit in the counseling process. My understanding of mind, ego, small self, and Inner Self emerged and I saw that aligning our mind, ego, small self and body with that Inner Self, that Divine Consciousness within us all, can not only heal us but also provide us access to all of the power we need to become everything that we want and need to become in this life.

I live for the moments, as a mystic, as a healer, as a teacher when those I work with take giant leaps in achieving a recognition of Self. Those are the moments of true healing and empowerment. Let me be your guide on your journey to whatever is most important to you. Together we can create and access the Self, producing transformational results.

• Ed.D. Applied Human Development.  October 1984.  Teachers College, Columbia University, N.Y., N.Y. – Course work focused on human ecology, counseling, adult development and meditative processes.  Spring semester 1977 spent studying meditation and yoga philosophy in India. 

• M.S. Guidance and Counseling.  June 1973.  C.W. Post Center, Long Island University, Greenvale, N.Y.

• B.A. English Education.  June 1969, magna cum laude, C.W. Post Center, Long Island University, Greenvale, N.Y.

• Yuen Method Chinese Energetic Healing. Dr. Kam Yuen. Level 1, 2 and 3

• Assaulted Staff Action Program (ASAP): Coping with the psychological Aftermath of Violence.  Raymond Flannery, Jr., Ph.D.  Institute for Advanced Studies in Crisis and Disaster Management, Inc.  Baltimore, Md.

• Addressing Workplace Violence: Strategies and Remedies.  James T. Reese, Ph. D.  Institute for Advanced Studies in Crisis And Disaster Management, Inc.

• New England Education Institute.  “Psychological Trauma,”  A 5 day seminar with Judith Herman, M.D.  Primary focus on work with incest survivors.

• Seminar in Ericksonian based techniques for working with victims of sexual abuse. 2 days with Yvonne Dolan, M.A.  Denver, Colorado.

• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Training. Presented by Jeffery Mitchell, Ph.D.  Pensacola, Florida.

• New England Institute for Neurolinguistic Programming.  80 hr. certification training program in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy with Richard Clark, Ph.D.

• SYDA Foundation, South Fallsburg, N.Y.  and Ganeshpuri, India.  Siddha Meditation and Hatha Yoga teachers’ trainings.

• NTL Institute.  Advanced Professional and Development Program, 2 week course.  “Program for Specialists in Organizational Development.”  Bethel, Maine.

• Emergency Medical Technicians Training. 130 hours. South Central Community College, New Haven, CT with re-certification courses.

• Yuen Method of Wellness. Certified Yuen Practitioner, September 2005.

• American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress, January 3, 2001.

• National Certified Counselor. Certificate #55168. Granted October 24, 1998.

• Licensed Professional Counselor, License #000445, State of Connecticut.

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Certification. Training with Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., June, 1993, December, 1993.

• Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Certification. New England Institute for Neurolinguistic Programming, June, 1987.

• EMT Certification. Connecticut. 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996.

• Permanent certification as a school counselor, grades K – 12, New York.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, eating disorders, stress and burn-out.  Critical incident stress reactions in police officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, emergency room personnel and civilians. Individual and group psychotherapy with survivors of rape, incest and battering. Spiritual issues and crises. Integration of Eastern energetic healing work; yoga and meditation with Western psychotherapeutic processes.

• Private practice, 1976 to present. (includes EAP consulting Since 1991)

• Wellspring Foundation –  Residential treatment facility for adolescents and adults, Bethlehem, CT.

November 1991 to October 1992.  

• Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Meriden, CT., Midstate Behavioral Health, June 1988 to November 1991.

• Solutions Employee Assistance Program, summer 1991 to present.

• Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic.  June 1988 to November 1991.

• Connecticut Critical Incident Stress Management Team, 1989 to 2013; Clinical Coordinator, February 1992 to September 1998 (Volunteer). Executive Board Member, February 1992 to 1999.

• Individual, family and group psychotherapy, crisis intervention, with a  wide range of clients.

• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing work with public safety and emergency personnel, mental health professionals, business organizations, and school systems since 1987.

• Supervision in family and group psychotherapy with private practice family therapist, June 1973 to May 1974.

• Supervision in family and group psychotherapy with private practice family therapist, June 1973 to May 1974.

• Clinical supervision and consultation  from psychiatrist, 1988 to present at Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center, Wellspring and private practice.

• MASTER TEACHER AND PRACTITIONER OF SHAKTI SWARUPA PATH OF HEALING. 2011 to present.

• ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR. Southern Connecticut State University. September 1993 to June 2004. Department of Counseling and School Psychology.

• ORGANIZATIONAL, CONSULTANT AND GROUP TRAINER. May 1973 to present.

ADJUNCT FACULTY MEMBER.

• Southern Connecticut State University. Taught courses in Psychology, Personality Theory, Counseling Issues in Lifespan Development (graduate course).

• Albertus Magnus College, Spring. Industrial and Organizational Behavior.

• Middlesex Community College. Techniques of Counseling.

• Norwalk Community College. Introductory Psychology, Child Psychology, Adolescent and Adult Development.

• East-West Institute for Holistic Studies, N.Y., N.Y. Graduate level course in Humanistic and Transpersonal Approaches to Counseling.

• Long Island University. C.W. Post Center. Human Sexuality.

SENIOR ASSOCIATE

United Research Company, Morristown, N.J. Consulted to major chemical, aerospace and insurance firms on organizational development and management development interventions.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Student Growth Division, C.W. Post of Long Island University, Greenvale, N.Y.  Administrative, internal consulting, training, public relations, research supervision and psychotherapy duties.

COUNSELOR

Pace University, Manhattan Campus, N.Y., N.Y.  Academic, vocational and personal counseling and psychotherapy, psychological testing and interpretation.

• Association of Transpersonal Psychology

• The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress

• International Critical Incident Stress Foundation

• American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA)

• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies

• Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES)

• American Counseling Association

• Religious Values In Counseling

• Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) (ASERVIC)

• Connecticut Counseling Association (CCA)

• Connecticut Mental Health Counselors Association (CMHCA)

• Connecticut Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (CACES)