Notes

  • Learn-Engage, Learn More-Engage Again: Some Thoughts on Advocacy and Activism

    I’ve been spending some time recently trying to figure out how I can engage in the anti-racist protests and activism that’s been going on – then I realized that it wasn’t that I didn’t know, it’s that I was nervous about how my involvement might be received. So now I’m taking the advice that I’ve […]

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  • Continuous traumatic stress

    [This was an excerpt from a paper I wrote as an MSW student] The concept of “Continuous Traumatic Stress” (CTS) emerged from research in Apartheid South Africa and later in conflict areas to discuss traumatic stress that is not in the past, but is present and is reasonably foreseeable into the future. It has been […]

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  • Feminist Therapy – What is it and why do I use it?

    [This post is a lightly edited excerpt of a paper that I wrote as an MSW student in 2018] Feminist Therapy is a meta-theory more than a specific modality. In my own work with it, I find that its purpose is to inform my overall practice with clients in a way that emphasizes empowerment and […]

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  • Intersectional Use of Feminist and Narrative Therapy

    [This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote as an MSW student in December 2017] Feminist Therapy is a meta-theory more than a specific modality. In my own work with it, I find that its purpose is to inform my overall practice with clients in a way that emphasizes empowerment and an egalitarian working […]

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  • Review and Analysis: “Lifetimes: The beautiful way to explain death to children” (1983) by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen

    [This was a report that I wrote for a class on Grief, Loss and Bereavement as an MSW student in 2017. As an Existential Therapist I am particularly interested in how death is addressed at all ages, including how parents can address it with children.] Summary and Impressions of the Book This is a relatively […]

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  • “Grizzly Man”

    This is a paper that I wrote during my second year as an MSW student at NYU. The assignment was to choose from a short list of books and videos and then basically diagnose the main “character.” I chose the movie “Grizzly Man” – this paper demonstrates one example of a more mainstream perspective of […]

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  • Working with Transgender Clients

    [This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote as a first-year MSW student at NYU in 2017] Transgender people experience most of the same issues that impact cisgender people, in addition to some that are the result of, or exacerbated by their gender identity and/or expression. Underlying the latter set of issues is a […]

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  • New York State Medicaid to Cover Transgender “Transition” Expenses

    The following is a paper I wrote as an MSW student at NYU in 2016 Policy Summary In December 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York State’s Medicaid regulations would be amended to include coverage for expenses related to the treatment of Gender Dysphoria (previously referred to as “Gender Identity Disorder”) for transgender individuals. […]

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  • Who Decided My Body is Wrong?

    [This was a “Reflection Paper” that I wrote for an assignment in a first semester class – Diversity, Racism, Oppression and Privilege – as an MSW student at NYU. It focuses on some issues impacting the transgender community. I wrote this in 2016, some of my views have shifted from what I wrote here. It […]

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  • A Better Way to Work with “Problem Students”? – Restorative Practices as an Alternative to Suspension in NYC Public Schools

    [This was a paper I wrote for a policy class as a first year MSW student on restorative practices in NYC public schools] Susan Dominus discusses a new approach, “restorative practices,” to handling disciplinary problems with students that is being used by the Leadership and Public Service High School in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has […]

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  • Thoughts on “Significance of Culture and Power in the Human Behavior Curriculum”

    [This was a paper I wrote for a class during my first year as an MSW student] The Elaine B. Pinderhughes article, “Significance of Culture and Power in the Human Behavior Curriculum,” discussed the role of “culture,” which she defined as “commonalities around which a group of people have developed values, norms, and behavior practices,” […]

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