From Anne, LCSW-S:
One of my first loves (unless you count Neil Diamond) is books. It feels like a welcome inheritance from my grandmother, to my mother, to me, and now to my daughter. I don’t know how to live better than any human, but through a life devoted to reading, listening to, and telling stories, I do know how to derive a cohesive narrative that helps us make meaning of our lives. Throughout my continuing education, I’m learning that love and compassion, though hard-won through facing our and each other’s pain, are at the heart of my understanding of justice and just relationships: putting our human potential first while acknowledging that we all make mistakes and need to lovingly hold ourselves and each other accountable so we can do better next time.
Some key cultural components of my identity that I believe are relevant in my practice are my whiteness, motherhood, being a cisgendered woman married to a loving white man, being raised upper middle class, a daughter, and a friend. I am an “Okie” in my blood though I’ve not lived in Oklahoma City since I left for college. In much of my heart, I am a New Yorker, having pursued my professional passion and established my beautiful family there for 12 years (hence I maintain a license there). Houston is starting to feel like a home 5 years later as I see my efforts to build community, even amid a pandemic, pay off.
I first worked in public relations, then publishing, until I finally followed what was most true. I got my Master’s in Social Work in New York City. Then I pursued intensive training in couple and family therapy, specifically exploring how issues of power, privilege, and oppression play out in relationship dynamics. My vision for my life and my practice is grounded in the pursuit of justice as I understand it. As my son’s beloved Spider-Man espouses, with great power comes great responsibility. I believe it is our human responsibility to use the power of our imaginations to cultivate a more just world. I believe that starts with us.