I am delighted to welcome Kathleen Shanahan, Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist (#AMFT87529) to my team and to announce formation of a group practice called Restored Connections Family Therapy, A Professional Corporation.
Kathleen and I both completed our Master of Arts degrees in Marriage & Family Therapy at Hope International University a few years apart from each other and I have supervised her clinical work under contract since March 2016. After she worked in a program that served children with disabilities, in 1998 Kathleen co-founded an early intervention center and was involved in every aspect of the business including developing a program, hiring, leading, and working within a multidisciplinary team that provided pediatric therapy services to children from birth to age three. Her undergraduate work focused on child development and human services with an emphasis in counseling.
Kathleen’s passion to serve special needs families and to integrate Christian care when clinically appropriate were important motivations that lead her to Hope International University where she was exposed to the integration of sound Christian theology with psychotherapy. As she followed God’s leading, as a Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist, Kathleen masterfully worked with special needs children and their families conducting assessments, therapy, and providing positive behavior support in coordination with the multidisciplinary team—delivering competent and compassionate care to clients from Regional Center of Orange County, Harbor Regional Center, as well as with clients from the broader community. Kathleen’s heart and her work with special needs children and their families inspired my own learning and research as well as my ongoing doctoral project which is a research and theory-based program development for caregivers and families of children at risk for autism.
Kathleen brings a wealth of experience and a caring heart to Restored Connections Family Therapy, P.C. She works extremely well with people of all ages, stages, and abilities and is fully trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), an empirically validated model for treating trauma. She is also a Grief Recovery Specialist having been trained by the Grief Recovery Institute. In her work with couples, she draws upon the Sound Relationship House model developed at the Gottman Institute and she has experience as a Gottman Level 1 Therapist. She also uses the PREPARE/ENRICH inventories with couples who are moving toward marriage or who want to strengthen their relationship.
It is a delight to welcome Kathleen and to launch Restored Connections Family Therapy, P.C.! We are here to provide high quality, compassionate care for the whole family and we look forward to serving you.
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