Karen has a Masters degree in counseling psychology and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. She has over 20 years of successful leadership, administrative, case management, and direct service experience working with people with disabilities in a diverse range of service delivery environments. She has experience with providing residential and home support services to people with developmental disabilities, including work within licensed environments. Karen has excellent crises management experience both from a service delivery (operational) standpoint and a case management/quality assurance standpoint. She has considerable and longstanding experience serving individuals with significant behavioral and medical challenges. Karen demonstrates a thorough knowledge of and successful track record in California’s developmental disabilities services system.

Her previous experience includes: Project Director, University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry (San Francisco, CA); Director, Crisis Response Project (Antioch, CA); Client Program Coordinator and Crisis Coordinator, Regional Center East Bay (Oakland, CA); as well as experience as a Psychiatric Social Worker (San Mateo, CA) and Clinical Interviewer (Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA). She also had a private therapy practice specializing in work with people with special needs and their family members.

Karen’s Professional Affiliations/Memberships:

• Board Member, Alameda County Developmental Disabilities Council
• Chairperson, Health Care Task Force Alameda County Developmental Disabilities Council
• Delta Sigma Epsilon, National Scholastic Honor Society
• California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists