“We must not forget that our society requires adequate mental health care to survive and thrive.”
Individuals
The most wonderful thing about life is that it presents us with changes and opportunities. Yet, not all are necessarily welcome or easily managed. Other changes affect us so deeply they become a burden difficult to bear.
Any type of change can leave you feeling emotionally exhausted and confused about how to move forward in your life. It might be the opportunity to choose between two promising but very different career paths or doubting for years that the career chosen was not the best fit for you. Or, as a parent, you may have a child struggling in school or with a physical or mental health issue. Your exhaustion and confusion could result from a relationship struggle, wanting to be in one, seeking to leave one or finding a way through one that is worth saving.
Changes and challenges require emotional energy to manage through them. My experiences have led me to help adults, children and parents move through their struggle and pain by exploring unspoken needs in order to find hope and provide validation.
So you are not alone. Adults, children, and parents I work with seek a reason behind their feelings, want to understand how to step into their lives, and cultivate a sense of renewal and confidence.
Regardless of where you are in your life, I can help you gain a clearer picture of your feelings and core values that will let us, together, find approaches and directions for you to take next and feel at ease in moving forward.
clinical psychiatric care
As a Harvard- and Stanford-trained physician, I’m double-board certified in child/adolescent & adult psychiatry. Currently I’m Division Director of Child, Adolescent & Family Psychiatry at George Washington University.
Practitioners
If you’re a mental health clinician, staff, case manager, foster care worker, or anyone who works with children and adults of abuse and injustice (forcibly displaced people, refugees, asylum seekers, survivors of torture, trafficking, or hostage), you likely have times where you aren’t sure how to help these child or adult survivors. I know I did.
For the past decade, I’ve worked extensively with survivors of extreme violence and forced migration both globally and domestically. I’ve also known that many times these populations have deep wounds that need special care. It’s an honor to provide discussion, lectures, and training on how to support the emotional well-being of child and adult survivors of extreme adversity.
education + training
If you’re looking for training on how to work with forcibly displaced youth or survivors of extreme trauma, I provide supervision groups, clinical case training and educational sessions to people who help people.
Organizations
Government agencies, corporations, and non-profit groups who care about the emotional well-being of their staff, sometimes need someone to provide a fresh perspective and practical guidance. My most popular topics are how to manage stress, vicarious trauma, burnout, mental health of refugees/ forcibly displaced people, and survivors of trafficking and torture, how to build collaborative teams, and trauma-informed approaches.
Personal experiences and our life stressors all play a role in our professional and personal relationships. It is through this framework that I approach public speaking and workshops. Humanitarian agencies who need technical support will find my background of direct patient care and ability to work at the systems levels useful.
speaking & presentations
Choose from a wide range of topics, tailored to your audience. I take an interdisciplinary and pragmatic approach to my presentations.
consulting
I provide consulting to government agencies, such as the U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services with technical support and training. For humanitarian agencies such as the United Nations, I provide technical guidance through mental health and psychosocial research and policy for forcibly displaced children and adults globally.