Starting out in life knowing I never wanted to stop learning, I have spent decades understanding how human nature works, and why growing is so important. My long study of self-development, including decades of meditation, sobriety, receiving therapy, journal writing, and exercise, culminated in a graduate degree in counseling psychology. Since then, I have gradually grown into my responsibility to help others grow.
As a therapist, I help people cope and grow through problems in the present. I am also a memoir coach, meaning I guide people to gather memories and turn them into a compelling story. While these two services might seem worlds apart, I have found that my training and experience in each one supports my ability to perform the other.
Becoming a therapist at fifty, completing and publishing my second memoir at seventy five, I am no stranger to long character arcs. I found that lifelong learning started when I made the decision to try. And as long as I kept trying, I kept growing, not only within myself, but in my compassion and connection with others.
In helping you “connect the dots” about how you’ve become the person you are today, therapy as well as memoir writing can lift you to a more vigorous, confident, healthy version of yourself.
Note: I am licensed and only practice therapy in the state of Pennsylvania, USA. But I coach writers all over the world.
My mission is to help people foster a deeper, richer shared experience, living in harmony in the world.
I help others write their healing story.
When you first try to remember your past, fragmented snippets of events randomly pop into mind and then drift back into storage. If you choose to capture these glimpses and then reshape them into the compelling framework of a story, you will learn to see yourself in a new way. Turning your past into a healing story, also provides a deeper understanding of who you are in the present.
As a teacher & coach
As a memoir writing teacher and coach, I can help you achieve your goals – I have been facilitating memoir groups, teaching memoir classes, and coaching individual memoir writers for about fifteen years.
As an author
I have been writing books about becoming a writer since 2007. Click here to learn more about my books.
Following is a selection of some of my previous and current engagements.
To get updates about upcoming events, subscribe to my newsletter. For press or speaking inquiries, please contact me to request a free 15 minute consultation to talk about your project or event.
In the media
→ Reading “What I learned from my Mom” at the Bethlehem Area “Listen to Your Mother” tribute.
→ Interviewed on radio by John Ricciutti and Jill Frechie for WXVU Radio 89.1.
→ Memoir Revolution reviewed by Denis Ledoux for The Memoir Network.
→ “Yes, Plan to Write a Memoir,” an article and interview by Andrea Chalupa for BigThink.
→ Interview by Sonia Marsh about Gutsy Living.
→ Podcast interview, talking about memoir writing and healing
Workshops, conferences and retreats
- Write Your Healing Memoir, online with Memoir Magazine
- Memoir Retreat at Water’s Edge Resort and Spa, cohosted with Linda Joy Myers and National Association of Memoir Writers (Westbrook, Connecticut)
- How to turn facts into stories: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction at Northampton Community College (Bethlehem, PA)
- Write Stories for Family Love and Legacy at Northampton Community College (Bethlehem, PA)
- 8-Hour Write Your Memoir Workshop for Chaffee County Writers Exchange (Buena Vista, Colorado)
- Why write a story about an ordinary life?
- 8-Hour Learn to Write your Memoir Workshop at Manayunk Art Center, hosted by Philadelphia Stories
- Four week teleworkshop, online for NAMW
- What any writer can learn from the Memoir Revolution at Doylestown Bookshop (Doylestown, PA)
Appearances
- “Performance Story Telling” for Good Men Project at The WestEnd (New York, NY)
- “The Boy Who Solved Problems” at The Lehigh Valley Story Slam
- “Overcome Writer’s Block and Achieve your Goals” at Montgomery County Community College (Montgomeryville, PA)
- “Record the Story of Your Life” for Philadelphia Stories at Manayunk Art Center, (Manayunk, PA)
- “Writing as an Aid to Spirituality” for Science of the Soul (Quakertown, PA)
- “Find Meaning in Your Memories” for Greenshire Arts Consortium (Quakertown, PA)
- “How to Write a Memoir” at The Pearl Buck House (Doylestown, PA)
- “Demystifying Memoirs” at The Penn Club of New York (New York, NY)
- Creative Non-Fiction Panel for Philadelphia Stories “Push to Publish” Conference (Philadelphia, PA)
- “Lessons from the Memoir Revolution” for Association of Personal Historians Annual Conference (Valley Forge, PA)
- “I Don’t Brake for Writers Block” for Montgomery County Community College Writers Conference (Montgomeryville, PA)
Teaching
I am an Adjunct Faculty member at Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA. Courses include:
- Creative Non-Fiction
- Learn to Write Your Memoir
- I Love to Write. Now What?
- Memoir Writing as a Way to Heal