About Betsy

I’m a teacher educator and a psychotherapist, a combination of skills that allows me to see classroom behavior and teacher experience through an amazingly helpful lens: the psychodynamic lens. By “psycho,” I mean having to do with emotions and unconscious expectations of ourselves and the world; by “dynamic,” I mean having to do with relationships and the ways we fit together with other people, for better and for worse. I have been helping teachers and administrators (and parents and even students!) build their psychodynamic muscles for over a decade.

I have seen the SEL movement for students blossom but marvel that teachers have been left out. I am devoted to the idea that teachers need support in developing and maintaining their Social Emotional Competence so they can flourish in classrooms just as we hope students will. Teaching can be incredibly difficult and wearing for teachers. But there are few jobs as important. I help teachers do that job with hope, joy, and success.

Just as you are there for the students, I am here for you.

Here are my vital statistics:

I have a Ph.D. in education from Stanford University, a MSW from Smith College, and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Over the past 20 years, I have taught in teacher education programs at Stanford University, Dominican College, Connecticut College, and Bennington College; I have directed teacher education programs at Stanford (STEP) and Bennington (the MATSL). In the past decade I have been a psychotherapist for children and adults who have experienced sexual abuse or domestic violence, for college students, and for adults at a public mental health agency. Also for the past decade I have run Teacher Support Groups and done individual coaching with teachers and administrators at various schools from early childhood to college.