In the late 60s, while living in Lima, Peru for 6 months I encountered a method of growth and development with a cornerstone in spontaneity and creativity called Psychodrama founded by Jacob L. Moreno M.D. With my limited understanding of the Spanish language, I experienced the transformation of participants, witnessing group members enter isolated and withdrawn, and left connected and enlivened. It was magical. I knew I wanted to continue down this path.

In 1970 I returned to the U.S. to complete my undergraduate work at American University. This was a period of professional and spiritual transition. I entered two training programs. One was St Elizabeth Hospital, a teaching Hospital in the program of Psychodrama Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy based on spontaneity and creativity and the other was a spiritual school called Arica established by Oscar Ichazo whose philosophy was "A common purpose, on the grounds of Unity and Love for all humanity.”

The program was at Saint. Elizabeth's which was a federally funded program under the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). As students, we studied and practiced the theory and methodology 40 hours each week. We were immersed in this training laboratory. After my internship, I served as a staff member.

While the experience of working in a psychiatric hospital taught me many things, it primarily fostered how to enter a world of another and the importance of being present. Authenticity was the way of reaching this population. After training and being a staff at St. Elizabeth’s, I entered a graduate program at the School of Social Work at Stony Brook University in New York. There I learned the impact of social systems on the individual. In this program understanding the individual in their social context was underscored. The social work program integrated with my training provided an inner and outer map of a person's social/emotional world. Social work also reinforced the importance of being present and meeting people where they are and creating a place of safety where they can connect to themselves and share honestly.

In 1978-2012 after graduating from the School of Social Work, I started a private psychotherapy practice and began forming groups for training and personal growth. I was invited to establish a psychodrama department at Fair Oaks Hospital, a private psychiatric hospital in Summit, New Jersey. In addition, I presented at various conferences in the United States. I had the experience of teaching at two universities. At Stony Brook, I taught in the undergraduate department and supervised undergraduates in their fieldwork experience. At Rutgers University I taught group work in the School of Social Work.
Robert Siroka, Ph.D., and I conducted extensive week-long training programs internationally. Together we taught Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy. For over 25 years, during the summer in the U.S., we conducted a week-long training program for people who were in training and those who were interested in their own personal growth.

In 2013 one of the leading Buddhist teachers in the US, Tara Brach, Ph.D. along with 3 other senior meditation teachers, Johnathan Foust, MA, Pat Coffey, MA, and Hugh G Byrne, Ph.D., created a two-year curriculum including studies and training in insight, mindfulness meditation, compassion practices, and Buddhist thought, sponsored by the Insight Meditation Community in Washington, D.C., and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County, California. The practice of Vipassana meditation promotes clear seeing, clear knowing, and clear speaking and connects through compassion and curiosity. This program also emphasized the power that mindful awareness has on the ability to live connected and present.

”The teachings of mindful awareness are aimed solely at liberating all sentient beings from sufferings.” In this approach, we entered the internal world with conscience and breath. We pay attention to the sensations in the body, where memory is stored and warmed up. Jacob L. Moreno M.D. said, “ a truly therapeutic procedure can have for its objective no less than mankind.” In the experiential approach, we bring the social-emotional interpersonal world into the moment to be explored through the lens of roles.
Both approaches have a philosophy, procedures, and techniques. I have dedicated myself to integrating these two powerful paths of healing.