I am a certified clinical social worker,
psychoanalyst and psychologist with more than 25 years of
clinical experience of helping children and adults.
As a bilingual and bicultural psychotherapist, I am
familiar both personally and professionally with the emotional
and behavioral difficulties that arise from having to negotiate
different cultures and languages. I specialize in helping
families and individuals prepare psychologically for adoption,
facilitating the transitional process that the whole family
has to go through once the adoption is completed and helping
adopted children adjust to their new family, new culture,
new school etc. I have treated children with various diagnoses,
and my knowledge of Russian cultural specifics has allowed
me to help adoptive parents and their children bond in a
healthy way.
For a number of years I coordinated
a clinic that helped families and children of different
cultures with parenting issues, adoptive difficulties, school
problems etc. I have been a consultant to the Board of Education
and to the Board of Jewish Education on adjustment issues
of students from different cultures. I have taught and written
about the adjustment difficulties and parenting concerns
that have to do with migration and integration of one's
own culture of origin with the culture of resettlement.
