I received both my doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision (1988) and my Masters in Counseling and Guidance (1984) from Syracuse University. I have been an adjunct professor within the counseling department at Syracuse University, teaching a variety of doctoral and master level courses since 1989. I have received eighteen years of weekly clinical supervision. From 1987 to 1993, I worked under Dr. Rene Willet, a licensed clinical psychologist. And from 1993 to 2005, I had the good fortune of learning from a master therapist, John A. Carnevale, a licensed clinical social worker. Over the last fifteen years, I have provided clinical supervision to graduate-level students at Syracuse University, school counselors in a variety of central new york school systems, as well as psychotherapists within the community.
At the time that I completed my Ph.D. in 1988, counselors were not licensed in the State of New York. This meant that anyone could call themselves a counselor and that there was no State regulation of either the title or scope of practice for counselors. The only certification available at the time came from a national group called the Board for Certified Counselors. I became certified as a clinical mental health counselor (1991) and a nationally certified counselor (1993).
On January 1, 2005, after many years of legislative effort, the New York State Board for Mental Health Practitioners, through the Education Law, finally established four new licensed mental health professions in New York State. These professions; creative arts therapy, marriage and family therapy, mental health counseling, and psychoanalysts will now be regulated by the State. After going through the application process, I was granted a license to practice mental health counseling in the State of New York on January 4, 2006.
