Heather Lauren Davidson M.A., Ed.M
Heather Davidson, Ed.M., M.A. is an intern at The Center for Growth. Her internship training includes: helping clients who struggle with anxiety, chronic pain, depression, eating disorders, PTSD, pregnancy and fertility problems, grief, trauma, marital problems, sex addiction, sexual function and dysfunction.
Self Help Tips:
- What to do when negative commentary from your past follows you into the bedroom today
- Premarital counseling for same sex couples
- Coping with a miscarriage
- Identifying managing critical incident stress in police officers
- Feeling numb from police work
- PTSD 101
- PTSD: Know your triggers
- Talking to your partner about PTSD
- Identifying your triggers with a PTSD trigger table
Heather has had various experiences dealing with stress and coping. While studying gender and development issues in Kingston, Jamaica, Heather conducted an independent research project exploring the manner in which socioeconomic deprivation and cultural variables impact peoples’ well being and their ability to cope with hardship. She also examined how social factors, cultural factors and gender based violence can influence women’s mental health. Heather also has experience working with occupational stress and trauma in police officers. Through the course of her research, Heather also examined how officers cope with this stress in both positive and negative ways. Her work with police officers highlighted how occupational stress and trauma can lead to issues including substance abuse, depression, anxiety and marital problems. Based on her ride-alongs with officers from a police department in Ohio and interviews with existing stress management programs at various police departments across the country, Heather designed a stress management program for an Ohio police department. This stress management program addressed the unique psycho-social stressors encountered in the law enforcement community. Recently Heather worked on a research project at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center which aimed to understand how combat-related stress symptoms and other mental illnesses may interfere with family readjustment after returning from a combat deployment. In addition, Heather worked as a call responder for Families at Ease, a program aimed at assisting concerned family members or friends help to get their veteran into medical or mental health care. Heather also has experience using therapeutic supportive counseling and group counseling to help chronically mentally ill individuals with substance abuse issues.
Heather received a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology from Denison University in 2008. She received an Ed.M. and M.A. in Psychological Counseling from Teacher’s College, Columbia University in 2010. Heather is a member of the American Counseling Association and has passed the National Counselor Examination. In college Heather was an NCAA finalist and an NCAA Academic All American in women’s swimming. Heather was also inducted into the Mortar Board National Merit Society and was made a Sociology/Anthropology Department Fellow.
Self Help Tips:
