If you're interested in learning more about my background, below is a summary of my clinical training and expertise, teaching experience and research interests.

Clinical

My clinical education has focused on evidence-based, culturally sensitive evaluation and treatment of anxiety and OCD in children, adolescents and young adults. I have completed training within the Anxiety Behaviors Clinic at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the University of Pennsylvania’s former Child and Adolescent OCD, Tic, Trich, and Anxiety Group, and Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. I have also completed training in the parent-led pediatric anxiety and OCD intervention called SPACE: Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. I am currently a member of the training faculty for the International OCD Foundation’s Behavior Therapy Training Institute.

Areas of expertise include:  

  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

  • Separation Anxiety Disorder

  • Specific Phobias

  • Panic Disorder

  • Selective Mutism

  • Social Anxiety Disorder

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder

  • Difficulties that commonly present with or are driven by anxiety, including sleep problems, food selectivity (e.g. "picky eating"), and body focused repetitive behaviors such as skin picking or hair pulling.

I also have experience treating a number of issues that frequently co-occur with OCD/anxiety disorders and can influence treatment outcomes, including depression, attention problems, and disruptive behavior, as well as background working with children with chronic medical conditions where anxiety or other mental health concerns are getting in the way of optimal medical treatment. Training experiences that have provided me with my foundation in evidence-based practice in these areas include my time within CHOP’s Child and Adolescent Mood Program, the Center for Management of ADHD, the McNeeley Pediatric Diabetes Center, and the CHOP Pediatric Transplant Center. I also have formal fellowship training in Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). 

Teaching

I enjoy working closely with undergraduate and graduate students in both a teaching capacity and through supervision of student research, clinical work and scholarship.  I currently supervise PhD student clinicians interested in expanding their training and expertise in the treatment of anxiety and OCD in youth. More information about my current student clinicians can be found here.

I have designed and taught courses at the University of Minnesota and have served as adjunct faculty at Hamline University and Macalester College. Courses I have taught include:

  • Introduction to Psychology

  • Introduction to Child Psychology

  • Adolescent Psychology

  • Child Development Across Cultures

  • Behavioral and Emotional Problems of Children

  • Research-based study abroad program in northern Uganda

I also love to give professional talks, trainings, workshops, and lectures within a variety of institutional, professional and educational settings. For a more details, please see my Writing and Speaking page. 

Research

While my current focus is my clinical practice, historically my research has examined psychological, social and cultural factors that influence how children respond to and recover from trauma as well as the impact of violence and aggression on children’s mental health and development. 

My graduate work in northern Uganda focused on cultural and gender differences in aggression, including how forms of aggression and victimization influence mental health outcomes in war-affected youth. I serve as an ad-hoc reviewer for the peer-reviewed research publications Development and Psychopathology and PLOS One.