She received her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Oregon in 1989. She worked as a staff psychologist and trainer in student counseling centers at both the University of Oregon and the University of Washington, where she served as coordinator of training. She is a licensed psychologist in Washington State and conducted a psychotherapy and supervision practice in Seattle for 11 years. She was also on the counseling faculty of educational psychology at the University of Washington for 12 years. She has taken coursework at the Center for Object Relations in Seattle and was a member of the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study.