For my first blog, I thought I’d start by introducing myself. I figure if you are going to come along on this journey with me you should have an idea of who I am and how I got here.
My passion for psychology first began when I was a freshman in college. I enrolled in two psychology courses and I fell in love. It was around the same time that I was introduced to a little book that had just been published called “Men are from Mars, Women are From Venus” by Dr. John Gray. Did I say little? Did I mention that more than 50 million copies of this book have been sold? I was fascinated. I wanted to be Dr. Gray and do what he did for a living, including publish books (which is still on my bucket list so stay tuned). The rest of my college years at UCLA were spent in a similar field but when it came time to go to grad school I chose a different route; television broadcasting. So off I went to Syracuse University and received my Master’s in broadcast journalism. After graduating, I went back to LA and spent many years working in the entertainment field recording voice overs for national commercials, working as a sports reporter for FOX Sports Radio, interviewing celebrities on the red carpet, and freelance producing for E! Entertainment. I also worked for Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, and The Style Network. My career in the entertainment industry led me to work in sales, marketing, and advertising for many years for nationally syndicated radio programs.
After several years I decided to take a risk and follow my passion for psychology. I went back to school to earn my doctorate in psychology in marriage and family therapy, with a specialization in play therapy. For the last five years I have been working as a program manager at a non-profit agency overseeing a positive behavior support program in over 20 elementary schools. I am also a professor at a local university where I teach parent child therapy and play therapy courses to Master’s and Doctoral level students. As a licensed marriage and family therapist and registered play therapist I specialize in providing therapeutic services to families and specifically children 1-8 years old. I also facilitate prenatal and postnatal support group workshops and seminars on parenting, play therapy, and spiritual intimacy with couples (which was the topic of my dissertation).
I met my husband during the first year of the doctorate program and right before we completed our degrees, we became pregnant with our first child. Soon after graduation, I gave birth to our little girl. Becoming a mom has become the most rewarding experience in my life and I absolutely adore every second of it. Becoming a mom has opened my eyes to a whole new world of parenting and I have learned so much. Despite my educational and professional accomplishments, there is nothing I love more than my family and being a parent. I now have personal experience with parenting in addition to the years of working with parents on a professional level. After years in the making, I decided to make a longtime dream a reality and fuse my personal and professional forces with psychology and parenting to become The Parentologist! I have so much to share with you and I can’t wait to see where we go together! Welcome to my blog and thank you for reading along!
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