About

I completed my Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2003. My dissertation focused on the psychology of men and masculinities and gender more broadly and more specifically, heterosexual men’s relationship to pornography, a topic that has become an area of specialization in my clinical practice. Previous to my doctoral studies I completed a Master’s Degree in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University and then worked as a clinician with children, adolescents, and families at a residential treatment facility in rural New England.

I was kicked out of my first psychology internship training program in Upstate New York in 2000 for insubordination, an experience that generated an intense reckoning in myself, my anger, my ego, and in time, unexpectedly led me to the Veterans Health Administration. I completed two years of clinical training within the Veterans Health Administration in Cincinnati and Boston.

Thereafter, in 2004, I accepted a position at the VA Central Texas Healthcare System, where I worked extensively in Outpatient PTSD at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center and Austin VA Outpatient Clinic. During that tenure, I was the Training Director of the Doctoral-Level Psychology Practicum from 2008 to 2012, and I developed a group therapy-based mindfulness program for veterans. I also taught seminars on psychoanalytic psychotherapy using The Sopranos to psychiatry residents. The last decade of my service I shifted to a part-time position at the Austin VA Outpatient General Mental Health Clinic where I worked more extensively with women veterans.

I early retired from the VA in March 2024 with 21 years of public service, and at my clinic retirement party, I was given a cocktail glass embossed with: “”Limited Edition 2024, Vintage, The Legend Has Retired.”

Licensure  Licensure

Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists -
License # 33196 (Awarded in 2006)

Education  Education

Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, 2003
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
Dissertation: “The Practice of Pornography Consumption: A Qualitative Inquiry Into Heterosexual Men’s Perspectives and Experiences”

M.A. in Developmental Psychology, 1991
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York

B.A. with Distinction in Psychology, 1989
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, 1987-1989
Colby College, Waterville, Maine, 1985-1987

Professional Experience  Professional Experience

January 2010 – present
Private Practice Psychologist
Austin, Texas

March 2013 - March 2024
Staff Psychologist, VA Central Texas Veterans Health Care, Austin, Southgate Outpatient Clinic, Austin Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team (A PCT); Psychology Practicum Coordinator (November 2008 – January 2012), Austin, Texas

July 2007 - March 2013
Staff Psychologist, VA Central Texas Veterans Health Care, Austin, Southgate Outpatient Clinic, Austin Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team (A PCT); Psychology Practicum Coordinator (November 2008 – January 2012), Austin, Texas

May 2006 – July 2007
Assistant Professor, Texas A&M Medical School, Temple, Texas

November 2004 – July 2007
Staff Psychologist, VA Central Texas Veterans Health Care, Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center, Program Coordinator, Temple Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team (T PCT), Temple, Texas

September 2003 - September 2004
Psychology Postdoctoral Resident, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, Bedford, Massachusetts

September 2002 - August 2003
Psychology Intern, The Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio