I have recently moved to Eau Claire, where I live with my husband and a cairn terrier named Gracie. We have two grown and wonderful children. My husband and I met as VISTA volunteers; from there I went on to work as a social worker and advocate, primarily in the areas of poverty, homelessness and mental health. My experiences working with people and my own experiences as a consumer lead me to believe deeply that people can and will transform their lives when they are accepted, supported and empowered to develop in ways that feed and inspire them. Poetry, meditation, the natural world, and people are what feeds me and keeps me going.

I have been a mental health consumer advocate for 10+ years, as a patient, a consumer, a bureaucrat, a provider, and currently as a Technical Assistance Coordinator for Grassroots Empowerment Project.

I am also an accomplished artist—a painter, sculptor and photographer who has had exhibitions in St. Thomas, Montreal, Barcelona, Crete and Rome. My art work has recently been published by a London-based press in a book entitled, “Famous 100 Contemporary Artists,” and I have been offered a solo exhibition in Vienna, Austria.

People often ask me why I exhibit my art overseas rather than in the U.S. The answer is simple. I began my artistic career in Madison, displaying my work at local coffee shops, and at the hospital where I had my first inpatient stay. I quickly found that abstract art is not well appreciated. Several guestbook entries at the local exhibitions had comments like, “You call this art???” And, I even caught a viewer laughing at one of my paintings. Let’s just say, I left the local scene, pretty hurt, head hanging low. But, I continued to be inspired to paint and sculpt. All the while, I had been photographing my work and building a web site. Soon thereafter, I began to receive compliments on my work and enthusiastic invitations to exhibit my art in other countries. So I did. Commitment and perseverance—my recipe for success—in art, in recovery, in Life.

I have worked my entire adult life toward making the change necessary to create a just, peaceful and sustainable world. Whether as a volunteer or paid staff member in the anti-violence, environmental, reproductive rights, women's rights or Mental Health Consumer movements I believe that it has been, and is, my responsibility to use my voice, energy and
strengths for the greater good.

I received my degree in Anthropology and worked as an Archaeologist for several years before my gained knowledge of human networks and a historic perspective on oppression and discrimination led me in a new direction.

I am the proud Mother of an amazing and spirited little boy who reminds me every day what is truly important: compassion, empathy, creativity, fantasy, fun and chicken nuggets. In my "free time" I knit feverishly, bake with as much butter and sugar as I can, cuddle with my two siamese cats and nap.