Kathryn graduated with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Florida in 1971. She began her professional career in West Palm Beach, Florida at one of the first Community Mental Health Centers in the country. There she trained and supervised volunteers in crisis work and suicide prevention, counseled individuals, couples and families in the both the inpatient and outpatient programs, taught parenting classes and consulted with the staff of the Substance Abuse Treatment Program.
In 1978 Kathryn relocated to Missoula, Montana and took a position as a psychologist for the Confederated Tribes of the Salish and Kootenai People. For the next 6 years she provided counseling to clients and training and supervising of Native counselors in the Indian Health Clinic and the Alcohol Treatment Program. The Native people were accepting and gracious to her and invited her to attend medicine ceremonies, powwows and sweat lodges.
In 1983 Kathryn and nine other women created a spiritual circle to explore accessing direct spiritual experience through the use of ritual, ceremony, guided meditation and trance states. During that time many clients came to her with deep childhood wounds, and Kathryn found that the power of the trance states of consciousness in combination with a spiritual framework could dramatically mitigate effects of trauma.
Kathryn moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1984 to do a sabbatical at Naropa University and ended up staying another nine years. Kathryn trained in EMDR and set up a private practice. She also began teaching and supervising interns at Boulder Graduate School. BGS was a Master’s level program that granted degrees in Transpersonal Psychology and Holistic Health. She was Department Chairperson for the years 1990 and 1991 and helped design the transpersonal curriculum that was adopted by Naropa in 1993 after BGS closed. She then taught transpersonal psychology courses at Naropa.
For her continuing spiritual development Kathryn studied for a year with the Tibetan Foundation in Denver, Colorado. This group had two missions: 1) to clear unconscious programming or limiting beliefs; and 2) to open to channeling higher wisdom from spiritual guides and our own souls. This program assisted in developing her intuition, understanding the complexity of unconscious programming, and working with the energy body as part of the healing journey.
In 1994 Kathryn relocated to Bellingham, WA to be near the sea and to put down roots. Almost immediately she was invited to work with people of the Lummi, Upper Skagit, and Swinomish tribes. She continues to see Native and nonNative people in her private practice. She teaches classes by request for small groups. The courses are described in more detail under Classes on this site.Kathryn brings a transpersonal perspective to all her work and is deeply committed to her own spiritual unfolding. She has just published a book “Playbook for Surfing the Paradigm Shift” which can be ordered on this website.