Barb has over 40 years of experience providing counseling, training and support services to children and adults in a variety of educational, mental health and church settings. She has been Licensed in Texas as a Professional Counselor since 1990. As a committed life-long learner recently completed training for certification as a master practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), an approach to communication and personal development that utilizes the connection between neurological processes, language and behavioral patterns learned through experience to promote positive change and achieve specific life goals. Having begun her professional career as a teacher of deaf children, she has conversational sign language skills. Barb is comfortable providing counseling services for individuals from Kindergarten age through one’s golden age as a senior citizen. She has worked with individuals, couples and families to help as they navigate their journeys through a wide variety of life challenges. Some specific areas of interest include: assisting couples to create more effective communication and increased experiences of joy with one other; “being there” for people going through grief related to loss of a loved one or other major life changes (divorce, health, career, etc.) and when the time is right, helping them to envision and move toward what is next; implementing effective parenting strategies; supporting parents of children with special needs, including adoptive parents of children with attachment issues; supporting care-givers of loved ones with dementia; and walking hand-in-hand with members of the LGBTQ community and/or their families. Barb and her husband, Mel, have been blessed with a fulfilling marriage for more than 40 years. They have 3 adult children — their birth-son as well as their two youngest who were initially their niece and nephew fostered as infants until their adoption when preschoolers. Barb and Mel are active members at St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Fort Worth.