Growing up, I loved school and loved to read. I went away to college at Yale University after high school but soon found I was unprepared for the academic challenges of college. I loved the intellectual environment but lacked the discipline to make the most of it. Lacking focus and feeling discouraged after two years, I decided to take some time off and get a job instead. Over the next five years I worked as a waitress, a telephone answering service operator, a receptionist, and a secretary. Working taught me the skills and sense of responsibility I needed to complete my education. It also taught me to be more organized and stop procrastinating. During those years, I discovered psychotherapy, which gave me the confidence that I could change and overcome my old bad habits. I returned to Yale to major in psychology and graduate with distinction in the major.

I went on to earn a master’s degree in psychology from the New School for Social Research and a PhD from Rutgers University, where I received specialty training in neuropsychological and psychological assessment and the treatment of eating disorders and addictions. After graduate school, I completed postdoctoral fellowships in clinical neuropsychology and addictions research. Before starting Change and Maintain, I worked on the faculty of the University of Connecticut Health Center, as a clinical psychologist for the Bedford Veterans Affairs Hospital, and as the lead bariatric psychologist for the Reliant Medical Group/St. Vincent’s Hospital bariatric surgery program.

My own indirect path to success in a career I love instilled a passionate belief in the human capacity for positive change and growth. Let me help you make and maintain the positive changes that will bring you success and happiness.