I have been on the faculty of Duke University Medical Center since 1977 and have been in the private practice of psychotherapy  since 1981.  As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I served in both the Duke In-patient and Out-patient Psychiatry Services from 1977 to 1981. I was then named Program Director of the Family Studies Program in the Department of Psychiatry. In this capacity, I designed, implemented and administered the department’s first family therapy training program, a resident teaching-clinic providing out-patient marital and family therapy.

In 1989, I stepped down and hired a full-time Program Director to administer the program and to create a research component for the program. From 1989 to 1994 I served as Director of Clinical Training for the program.

Over the last 20 years, under the leadership of Karen Wells, PhD, the Duke Family Studies Program and Clinic has become nationally known both for the quality of the live, audio- and video-taped supervisory experience I originally created but also for the considerable number of National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) research grants Dr. Wells has been awarded.   The program has become a required year-long rotation for all psychiatry residents and has been expanded to include Duke Medical Psychology Doctoral Interns as well.  Since 1981 I have continued to provide teaching and clinical supervision in the program and clinic.

My private practice serves adults, children, couples and families.   I have had specialized training in working with sexual dysfunction, chronic illness, psychosomatic symptoms, end of life care, male depression, anxiety, and ADHD in children, adolescents, and adults.

ABCTherapy represents a new and innovative amalgam of my lifelong work as a systems therapist, the first model to integrate Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy. Results demonstrate that this new model produces rapid and very positive change in distressed individuals and couples.

In addition, i served with Triangle Hospice, Durham, NC, from 1981 through 1997 on a volunteer basis, providing training to Hospice volunteers on the issues families face in end of life care and the myriad ways in which those issues may impact family dynamics negatively. I also was a volunteer consultant to the clinical staff on working with clinically difficult families.

In 1997, I was hired as Clinical Social Work Supervisor and served in that position until 2002, providing clinical supervision and training to the social workers, chaplains, and nurses while serving on the Leadership Team and consulting on a prn basis to the Director on staffing and strategic issues.

After earning my MSW in Child and Family Services from the University of California at Berkeley in 1974, I worked at Kaiser-Permanente Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic in San Francisco until 1977, providing outpatient psychotherapy, 24 hour Emergency Room coverage for Psychiatry, and serving on the Consultation-Liaison Service to the Inpatient Medical Services.

My multicultural teaching and training experience includes two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer, 1967-1969, teaching English as a Second Language in the Federal Republic of Cameroun.  Upon my return to the States, I worked as a Peace Corps Trainer in the Francophone-Africa English Program, in Quebec, Canada, and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 1969-1970.  More recently. I was Executive Producer of the film "An Unlikely Friendship", an award winning documentary about friends of mine involved in the desegregation of the Durham County School System.

University of California at Berkeley, School of Social Welfare. MSW 1974
Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA. Rockefeller Fellow 1969-71
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. AB with Honors, Political Science and French, 1967
Faculté Des Lettres, L’Université de Lyon, France, Diplome, 1965-1966