ATTENDING TO HUMAN NEEDS AT THE INTERSECTION OF HUMANS and ANIMALS 

the strength of the human-animal bond

For 25 years, I have collaborated with university-based research teams and non-profit organizations to more rapidly translate scientific discoveries into everyday use to improve children's mental health and family well-being.   While some of these discoveries improved the lives of children and families, many of these evidence-based therapies are still not widely available.  Problems of access to specialty care, cost of that care, and the satisfaction with that care continue to hamper improvements in children's mental health.   

As such, in 2019, I merged my expertise in the translation of research for parents, providers and policymakers with my passion for, and appreciation of, the strength of the human-animal bond, and began pursuing professional certifications in the expanding field of veterinary social work. This field broadly includes animal-assisted interventions, animal-related grief and bereavement counseling, compassion fatigue and conflict management, and the link between human-animal violence. It also includes expanding the ways in which we serve the human-animal dyad, including Human Animal Support Service models that keep pets and families together, insure that humans-animals can remain together in situations of interpersonal violence, or when faced with economic challenges. 

I am currently working on my master's degree in social work (MSW) at Cleveland State University, and Veterinary Social Work certificate at the University of Tennessee, a unique certification for professionals who work at the intersection of human and animal relationships.

​I look forward to working with my new colleagues in the veterinary social work field, both on programming that supports and leverages the strength of the human-animal bond and all of the benefits it confers, as well as developing and disseminating animal-assisted interventions that improve children's mental health and family well-being.
I'm honored to have been appointed to the Board of Directors of the  International Association of Veterinary Social Work 
About the Equine Therapy Research I am involved in
​(Reining in Anxiety) 
Evaluation of a Modified Bit Device to Obtain Saliva Samples from Horses
Some of my favorite furry family friends ......