Neutral Child and Family Specialist

Licensed Psychologist

Many trainings on an annual basis from CLI and IACP; family law mediation training by Chris Leick; Collaborative Team Practice training in 2000; October 19, 2022 Domestic Violence in Divorce

I am a licensed psychologist with over forty years of clinical experience working with children, adolescents, adults and families. I participated in the first Collaborative Team Divorce training in Minnesota 21 years ago, and was immediately convinced of the significant benefits of a collaborative process for children whose parents are divorcing or breaking up. I have been providing Neutral Child Specialist services ever since, and am committed to evolving that role to its greatest potential. As an advocate and "helper" for children whose parents are divorcing or breaking up, I provide kids with a voice in the process and an opportunity to articulate what is important to them about family life. I help parents maintain a developmental perspective and recognition of the unique personality and temperament of each child as they develop their parenting plan and anticipate a process for adapting that plan as their children grow and circumstances change in the future. As a Neutral Child Specialist, I want to assist parents in reaching the goal of maximizing their children's resilience and enabling them to thrive in changing family circumstances by keeping the children at the center and out of the middle. I believe that children deserve the best safe parenting they can get from each parent. As a therapist working with many children and families of divorce, I experienced the emotionally devastating consequences of prolonged parental conflict exacerbated by adversarial divorces. When the opportunity to learn a collaborative divorce model was made available, I was eager to learn how mental health professionals can play an important role in what is clearly a much healthier process of family change for children. My experiences as a Neutral Child and Family Specialist have reinforced my strong belief in the collaborative divorce process.

Graduation Year : 1976

University Attended : St. Olaf College. Graduated summa cum laude in 1972 with a B.A. and departmental distinction in my major. Was accepted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1972.

Collaborative Law Institute Board Member and co-president elect Sliding Scale Fee committee member Public Education committee member Co-chair, Training committee Trainer for CLI workshops Member of: IACP Conflict Resolution Minnesota AFLCC, Minnesota Chapter Minnesota Psychological Association