Carolinas Biofeedback Clinic, LLC

             While my career journey to date has been a satisfying and rewarding, I return again and again to a compelling desire to deepen my knowledge and understanding of the connection between behavior and biology, the intersection of psychology and medicine known as behavioral medicine.  We are all the product of our experiences, and I am no exception.  Several significant milestone experiences have shaped the trajectory of my training, education, and career choices.  Knowing them helps you to know me and the approach I will bring to your case.

In 1998, my closest friend was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and given a 25% chance of survival.  During her protracted and valiant battle with cancer, I served the role of her primary counsel through all phases of her disease and treatment.  I suspect that her positive attitude and belief that she could beat the disease, despite repeated reality-checks from her doctors, played a large role in keeping her alive for over four years before her death at the age of 53.

This unforgettable and life-altering experience has fueled my desire to explore the powerful connection between mind and body.  Far beyond stress-related illness, there was a higher magnitude of illness-related stress that ultimately took its toll on my dearest friend.  As a consequence, I have a pounding desire to better understand the mind-body connection as it relates to healing and coping with illness, and to apply this knowledge to help others as they face these crises.

Even closer to home, my own daughter was diagnosed with Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome at the age of eight.  Hers is a chronic, incurable kidney disease whose treatment would temporarily disfigure her and affect her growth and development physically and socially.  Her questions about God and life and learning to live with an incurable disease at such a tender age drew upon my deepest reserves of compassion and of resolute courage through the five years of repeated, and almost constant high-dose steroid treatments and finally a course of chemotherapy, before she went into remission. Our challenge as a family has been not only to accept this life-altering diagnosis, but to find a way to embrace life through it--even in spite of it.  The on-gong emotional challenge is to be grateful for every relapse-free day, while remaining prepared should she relapse again.

As another example, I watched my stoic and defiant grandfather, diagnosed with not one but four strains of cancer (prostate, colon, bladder and lung cancer) and who was given just six months to live, far outlive my apparently healthy, energetic and spirited grandmother who died without warning of a massive heart attack within months of my grandfather's prognosis.  What were the interplays of the mind and emotional state in these physical outcomes?  How much did the anticipated grief and fear of loneliness factor into my grandmother's sudden demise?  Did my grandfather's life approach of "I'll go when I'm good and ready" hold the four life-threatening cancers at bay far longer than medical science warranted?

I believe it is no accident that I have been a participant and witness to these events.  Far from discouraging me, they have caused me to be evermore determined to explore these phenomena.  To borrow a quote from Hapgood, by Tom Stoddard, "All the mystery in life turns out to be this same mystery, the join between things which are distinct and yet continuous, body and mind..."

It is my conviction, as asserted by Dr. Paul Martin in his book, The Healing Mind, that "our mental state and physical health are inexorably intertwined."  There appears to be an undeniable connection between mind and body, brain and behavior, social relationships and biological resiliency.  My personal reading in the area includes the reading of such books as, Phantoms in the Brain, by Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, The Healing Mind, by Dr. Paul Martin, Mind Wide Open, by Stephen Johnson and the Institute of Medicines' journal on Health and Behavior.  Many of these experts confirm that psychological factors not only weaken our immune system's ability to ward off diseases, but also that illnesses have often profound psychological and emotional consequences.  I remain highly interested in exploring human reaction to matters of life and death, or where life as a patient knows it has to be redefined due to physical disability, trauma, or diagnosis with a chronic or terminal illness. 

Perhaps, one of my favorite aspects of my chosen psychophysiological work is that it necessarily blurs the boundaries between it and other professions.  It requires the me to be attuned to other professions and specialties and to work more closely in collaboration with them.  Biofeedback therapists become vital members of multidisciplinary clinical and research teams in rehabilitation, cardiology, pediatrics, oncology, neurology, psychology and psychiatry, and many other fields. 

My life experiences, personal brushes with death and chronic illness, and continued professional training allow me to bring a thoughtful and sensitive approach to every therapy session.  And every individual and their individual circumstances require an approach that is tailored specifically to their needs.  That is my commitment.