Karen is a Licensed Independent Social Worker and Licensed Master Social Worker with the State of New Mexico (since 1997) who received dual Master's degrees in Social Work and Public Administration from Eastern Washington University (1992/93). She acquired a Qualified Chemical Dependency Counselor Certificate (Washington, 1997), and served as a Chemical Dependency Counselor in Intensive Outpatient Treatment Clinics in Spokane, Washington. She has also worked with New Mexico's Children, Youth, and Families Department as an Investigator and as a Foster Family Placement Social Worker. Additionally, Karen has provided community organizing expertise to a variety of agencies over the past 30 years, including The Foster Parents Association of Lea County, The Area Agency on Aging, and The Association for Retarded Citizens. Karen's professional focus is in counseling adult caregivers. She helps parents identify and successfully address children's emotional and mental health issues, supports family members in recovery from the ravages of chemical dependency and domestic violence, counsels adult children and spouses who are caring for elderly family members, and provides grief counseling in the wake of the loss of a loved one. Karen is also available to provide peer counseling to other Helping Professionals, and can guide couples and families through the confusing process of adoption and/or foster care.