She earned her doctoral degree from Syracuse University in 1993 with a dissertation on the effects of traumatic bereavement in parents who lost a child in the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy. She was involved in the Network Against Psychiatric Assault in Berkeley during 1993, and was instrumental in planning the teach-in and demonstration at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association Convention in San Francisco. Her passions include working against abuses of power, psychotherapeutic healing of psychosis, compassionate parenting, and nonviolent communication. In recent years she has given presentations at the Arizona Psychological Association Convention, ICSPP, and the International Cultic Studies Association.