When I think about my work,
a wonderful poem by Marge Piercy always comes to mind:
To be of use
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident,
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
"To be of use"
from Circles on the Water
© 1982 by Marge Piercy
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For me, this is work that is real.
And the shape of it deeply satisfies me.
The process of my own healing has led me here,
and I’m honored to accompany people
as we work together through the painful passages,
and the dark spots.
As someone I love once told me,
pain is never the end of the story.
You don't have to do it alone.
I’ll hold the light for you if you’d like to work with me.
a wonderful poem by Marge Piercy always comes to mind:
To be of use
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident,
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
"To be of use"
from Circles on the Water
© 1982 by Marge Piercy
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For me, this is work that is real.
And the shape of it deeply satisfies me.
The process of my own healing has led me here,
and I’m honored to accompany people
as we work together through the painful passages,
and the dark spots.
As someone I love once told me,
pain is never the end of the story.
You don't have to do it alone.
I’ll hold the light for you if you’d like to work with me.
My Training & Qualifications
M.S.W. SUNY Binghamton social work 2007
L.M.T. Finger Lakes School of Massage therapeutic bodywork 2002
B.A. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania psychology w/ minors: women's studies, art 2000
New York State license to practice:
clinical social work license # 094220
AEDP Institute
AEDP Immersion 2017
Essential Skills 1 2017-2018
Assisting for Essential Skills 2019
AEDP supervision - ongoing
EMDRIA (EMDR International Association):
2011 - complete EMDR training
-------------------
I am also a certified school social worker.
I worked in that capacity with the Ithaca City School District from 2007-2018.
L.M.T. Finger Lakes School of Massage therapeutic bodywork 2002
B.A. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania psychology w/ minors: women's studies, art 2000
New York State license to practice:
clinical social work license # 094220
AEDP Institute
AEDP Immersion 2017
Essential Skills 1 2017-2018
Assisting for Essential Skills 2019
AEDP supervision - ongoing
EMDRIA (EMDR International Association):
2011 - complete EMDR training
-------------------
I am also a certified school social worker.
I worked in that capacity with the Ithaca City School District from 2007-2018.
If you'd like to know a little bit more about me as a human being:
To balance out my work,
I take care of myself by doing things that restore me.
I spend time in nature, being with birds and trees and wild things.
I read and write poetry and prose.
I listen to music.
I take photographs of whatever moves me.
I play in my gardens and check on my honeybees.
I bury my face in my dog's fur.
I sit by water. I breathe deeply.
I connect with the people I love.
In a universe with more free hours,
I'd hike often, travel widely,
& cook some meals from the massive library
of cookbooks I seem to have acquired.
To balance out my work,
I take care of myself by doing things that restore me.
I spend time in nature, being with birds and trees and wild things.
I read and write poetry and prose.
I listen to music.
I take photographs of whatever moves me.
I play in my gardens and check on my honeybees.
I bury my face in my dog's fur.
I sit by water. I breathe deeply.
I connect with the people I love.
In a universe with more free hours,
I'd hike often, travel widely,
& cook some meals from the massive library
of cookbooks I seem to have acquired.