Family Therapy

Maggie received her post-graduate certification in Marriage and Family Therapy from The Chicago Center for Family Health, Chicago, Illinois.  CCFH is one of the foremost family therapy training institutes in the world, renowned for its unique family resilience approach, and dedicated to strengthening families in crisis.   While in Chicago, she was fortunate to work and train with national leaders in the field of family therapy, including her work at The Center for Contextual Change.   

As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Maggie is trained to identify communication problems and imbalances in the family. Whether working with an individual or an entire extended family, she views problems within the context of individual, family, social, economic, and cultural constraints and legacies. She was trained in theory and techniques that can guide couples and families to seek effective solutions and build on their strengths to overcome vulnerabilities. This is an active, interactive and solution focused oriented treatment approach.

While in Chicago, she also was influenced by the concepts of narrative therapy, learned with Gene Combs and Jill Freeman. Narrative Therapy is an exciting, growing body of work that offers generative ideas for effective clinical practice. It is a non-pathologizing, competency-based approach that takes into account the larger political and cultural contexts in which problems arise.

 

After a divorce, death, or traumatic event, children have difficulty sorting through their feelings.  This is a normal process that can sometimes go astray because parents themselves are overwhelmed.  Signs of difficulty in adjustment can include acting-out or withdrawal.  To help with long-term emotional health, children can benefit from supportive and focused counseling. 

She has completed extensive course work from the Trauma and Loss in Children Institute in Detroit, Michigan. TLC approaches teach specific interventions to assist children recover and adjust from crisis.

Maggie has been influenced by the work of Dr. Daniel Amen, a pioneer in the study of the brain as it affects children, and ADHD. She also uses many of his works in her parent training course. She offers special training in parenting and the single parent. She has written several curriculum in this area and merges ideas from Dr. Amen, Cloud and Townsend “Boundaries with Children”, and standard STEP training.

In addition, she completed advanced training on the Collaborative Problem Solving Approach of Drs. Ross Greene and Stuart Ablon, geared towards the child who “melts down”. She finds that Dr. Green’s work, “The Inflexible, Explosive Child”, resonates with many families and is happy to help families both understand and work with these children.



Marriage Counseling                                                                   Trauma & Loss                                               Marriage Counseling