When your relationships hurt rather than help, you're the only part of that equation that you can change. Rather than a magnifying glass to focus on what's "wrong," I offer a kaleidoscope lens that brings everything into harmony.

I discovered the colorful power of the 7 Childhood Treasures during my own recovery from years of childhood sexual assault. Then I discovered that no matter what kind of childhood you had--dysfunctional and traumatic, like mine, or sane and nurturing--your life now, your relationships now, will benefit from a look through this multi-faceted lens. The 7 Treasures view is based on the norms of early childhood development: inborn tools for developing relationships full of trust, healthy boundaries (rather than co-dependence), a sense of shared magic, and more. I offer you a better understanding of your early years, as a pathway to better understanding of yourself now.

How I Began

I traveled my early years "guided" by an alcoholic sociopath father and a mother struggling to cope, using a very lean toolbox of skills for marriage and parenting. My father's sexual assaults began when I was an infant and continued, off and on, until I was 15. My first seven years and the remaining childhood and adolescence that followed left me standing at the threshold to adult life with no tools at all for coping with adult relationships. My road to recovery included many years of psychotherapy, finding sobriety, and deep introspection. There was no coincidence, I believe, in the alignment of those years of recovery with the early years of my professional life.

My successful career focuses on early childhood development and its impact on us as adults. For more than four decades, I've worked directly with thousands of children and adults, from the various perspectives of teacher, teacher educator, program director or agency CEO, presenter/trainer, and consultant. My education includes: 

• BA in Human Development and Family Life
• BA in Anthropology
• MA in Early Childhood Education
• PhD in Developmental and Child Psychology

At the intersection of my childhood experience and my professional insights about the first seven years of life, I found a new way of growing. These strategies enable you to refresh, renew, resuscitate, and even revive or rebuild your relationships at home and at work.

• The 7 Childhood Treasures add impact as you learn and evolve as a person.
• The 7 Facets of Team Success bring personal power and perspective to your career and workplace.

From a refreshing retreat for a small team, to a major overhaul of corporate culture, the 7 Facets bring a uniquely productive lens to business growth strategies. For individuals in any stage of growth and personal striving, seeing life from the perspective of the 7 Treasures allows you to take your relationships and your life to the next level, and leave the struggle behind.

If you're ready, I can help. Contact me here for additional information.

Other credentials:

• Fifteen years working directly with more than 1,500 children and their families, in preschool and K-3 classrooms
• Fifteen years of teacher education and seminars on transformation, with more than 130 presentations to a total of more than 5,000 people
• Studied team building and leadership development at the Center for Creative Leadership and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
• Scholarly writings published in Education and Treatment of Children; Merrill-Palmer Quarterly; the National Association for the Education of Young Children's journal, Young Children; and other journals
• Popular articles published in Kansas City Parent Magazine, WholeChild Developments, Kansas Child, and other magazines and newspapers
• "Becoming My S.E.L.F." chapter in The Innergized Life (publication November 2017)
• Just Be Your Self-Governing, Ego-Aware, Leading, Free S.E.L.F (book publication in Summer 2018)
• More than 50 volunteer positions on advisory boards and committees, in professional associations and state government, such as Chair of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood and President of the Board of Directors for Child Care Aware of America