For more than 20 years, Sue has been working closely with individuals, families and children, not only in the U.S. but all over the world. Her focus is on helping teens, young adults, and other adults (including parents) to move from distress and trauma to healthy functioning. Sue has been in private practice working with these groups for nearly 10 years.
Sue’s therapeutic techniques focus on allowing the mind and body to work together to heal and find balance. Sue helps you rediscover your voice, rebuild your innate resilience, transform your struggle and get back to yourself. She provides a warm, safe, welcoming, environment while providing actionable, results-oriented feedback and tools to her clients. As a trauma survivor herself she understands the need to be gentle, non-judgmental and safe and easy to talk to. In addition to being warm and compassionate, Sue is direct and takes a compassionately directive approach, so your therapy will be goal-oriented and effective.
Her work has evolved into a calling that she finds powerful and transformative, and she is deeply touched by the interactions with her clients. She is humbled by the trusting dynamic she is able to create with her clients as they work towards healing. When not serving others, she enjoys hiking and biking in the Colorado mountains, making as well as pottery, and mosaics, and dabblings in beginning drawing and painting. Sue sees laughter and nature as natural medicines for healing.
Experience
In 1992, she began as a volunteer teacher in Cape Town, South Africa during the transitional time of the country’s shift from Apartheid to democratization. She later acted as an advocate, trainer and manager for several international NGO’s and UN agencies focusing on the protection and rights of women, children and refugees throughout Africa and Europe. This global perspective has helped her become a fierce advocate for children and families from diverse ethnic, racial, religious, cultural and economic backgrounds. She works from a culturally competent lens and is always willing to learn or ask what she doesn’t know or understand to better understand you and your particular cultural, or religious or community background.
After her time abroad, she returned to Denver and pursued dual Masters degrees from the University of Denver, graduating in 1998 with a Master of Social Work, specializing in children and families, and a Masters in International Relations.
Sue began her professional counseling career as a child protection caseworker for the Denver Department of Human Services. This was followed by 9 years working in the Denver Public School system as a school social worker supporting and teaching parenting classes to teen mothers and as a school social worker.
Her experience also includes work as a milieu counselor in residential treatment centers and as an integrated behavioral therapist in two Denver area pediatricians’ offices and as a home-based mental health therapist for local nonprofits. This deepened her expertise working with children struggling with a range of behavioral, emotional, familial, and mental health issues.