As a listener of another’s story, I may discover that someone else has a problem similar to mine, and as I hear its voices or read about it in another person’s words, I gain new insights into my own dilemma. Sometimes I hear, or read into, the person exploring resolution to his or her problem, and my own inner teacher is awakened. At the very least, knowing that someone else has a problem similar to mine, gives me a sense of not being crazy and alone.

Because telling my story makes me vulnerable to having others want to fix me, or possibly, to be exploited by others, or maybe dismissed or ignored as trivial, I learned to tell guardedly or not at all. Instead of telling my story, I talked about my opinions, ideas, and beliefs rather than about my live. I discounted my struggles as though they are weaknesses to hide. I am now convinced that neighbors, co-workers and even family members can live side by side for years, maybe even a lifetime, without learning much about each other’s lives. As a result, I believe that I have lost something of great value. For in truly seeing another person, I am able to understand their situation, and we are able to have a fuller understanding of ourselves.

The self stands at the core of being. It is the carrier of what the soul intends. This calling to peace in the inner self will not make my life easy or free of suffering nor will it win the praises of my friends or community, but it will fill my life with meaning, purpose and a general sense of the rightness of my life’s path.

By what truths do I live? Where do I invest your life during this brief time called life? By whose definition do I understand who I am? Am I living the life that I want, or am I living someone else’s for them? By what point of reference do I make my decisions? Can I see my life as symbolic? Can I find healing even in the darkest corners of my life? How do I define the messages of I life? These are questions that life has asked me to answer.

I am a graduate of Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio Texas. I hold both a BSW and MSW from The Lake. I am licensed in Texas as a LCSW. I received my training in Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Care from The Anglican School of Theology, Dallas, Texas. Using my psychotherapy skills, I have worked with individuals, families, and groups in a wide variety of agencies and hospital settings as well as having been in private practice. I have provided supervision to other MSW graduates who are preparing to sit for their clinical license exam. I have experience as a mental health consultant for nursing homes, adoption agencies and for pain management clinics. I am involved in an active ministry offering Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Care in my local Episcopal church. I have been a speaker at workshops and at personal retreat weekends.

My newest adventure is that I am in a two-year program, offered by The Haden Institute, Flat Rock, NC, that is preparing me to facilitate small groups of persons who desire to understand the meaning of their lives through the study of their dreams. The more that I study and read about dream meaning, the more passionate I become for the understanding of those dreams as they apply to our health and wholeness within myself. A native Texas, I continue to make Texas my home. My husband and I live on a small lake in East Texas.

After a long career as a psychotherapist, I wrote my life's story, "Hidden in Pain,” as a way to share the mystery of transformation found in the claiming of one’s life through story. I skillfully draw the reader into the sorrows, agonies, abuses, challenges, and triumphs of my struggles with educational, physical, psychological, and spiritual pain over my life span. I guide the reader through my determined and yet painful quest for spiritual and emotional wholeness, culminating with finding profound peace. My ability to story-tell in "Hidden in Pain" keeps will keep the reader enticed. As a practicing psychotherapist, Spiritual Director, Pastoral Care assistant, and a Dream group facilitator for the interpretation of dreams, I share my unique insight into my own struggles, as well as the stories of others as told to me. I end by encouraging others to consider their story and to share the wisdom found with others through writing, poetry song, dance or any expression that feels natural. It is my hope that the reader will be inspired to face the issues and challenges that life presents at any given time. This book is about hope, love and about courage.