About Catherine
Some highlights of my career:
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In 2000, I founded Arts Unbound, a visual arts organization that, for 19 years, provided people with disabilities arts education, vocational training and professional arts mentoring.
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In 2005, I co-founded Valley Arts, an arts driven urban renewal movement that brought residents, schools and businesses together in the transformation of the economically depressed former hat factory capital of Orange, NJ. Now, it is an arts destination with a viable economic engine and a vibrant cultural community.
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From 2008-2009, while living in Mexico, I created a scholarship program for orphan girls with trauma histories to attend an arts-intensive private school.
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From 2009 to 2015, I engaged community groups and corporate teams with arts-based experiences as tools for change management, insight mining and strategic planning.
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From 2015 to 2020, I worked in schools in various roles: as a teacher, educational psychologist curriculum designer and more recently, as a clinical social worker. I designed and taught trauma-informed, therapeutic language arts curricula, implemented a therapeutic canine literacy program, administered school-wide social/emotional education and anti-bullying programs, provided in-school counseling for children and families and advocated for the emotional/social and academic needs of children in IEP/504 meetings.
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In 2021, I moved from New Jersey to Oregon to launch a private practice. I provide life coaching, social skills support, psychotherapy and educational advocacy. As a social worker licensed (LCSW) in the state of Oregon, I will be able to provide psychotherapy/counseling to Oregon residents only and all other services to anyone in the US.
Awards
2019 Local Hero Award: Essex County Ethical Culture Society
2007 Community Leadership Award: Housing & Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS)
2007 “Dare to Imagine Award for Outstanding Service” Very Special Arts NJ.
2006 “Living Life Like It’s Golden” -- Community Leadership Award Trinity Chapter 14, Orange NJ.
“Best of 2006” New Jersey Monthly Magazine. “Do-gooder.”
2004 Villager of the Month, South Orange NJ Gaslight