About Me

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Welcome to my blog!  I hope whatever you read will enlighten, inspire, encourage, comfort, help and inform you.

Besides my mental health and inspirational posts, some are about events, festivals, historical personages, and all that I love living here in this magnificent city of light and love.  All are written from my heart!

I dedicate this blog to all the beautiful patients who have made me the therapist that I am.   They came to me with much courage to seek help and I will always treasure them in my heart.

Also with loving memory to my beautiful little Potiron, who was a therapy doggie par excellent.

 

I have always felt very blessed to be a therapist, which passions me, and to practice in Paris has been a dream come true.

My professional journey started more than 37 years ago, when right out of graduate school I hung out my shingle to practice with an established psychiatrist.

Our patients were quite varied, which allowed me much exposure in treating multiple mental illnesses, with a predominance of anxiety and mood disorders.

I loved doing individual therapy from the start, which also included hospital base practice for the hospitalized patients, and also running inpatient and outpatient psychotherapy groups.

After approximately 9 years, I went into solo practice which was tremendously fulfilling, if not more challenging in many ways.

During that time, I kept one leg so to speak in hospital-based practice by working part-time as a clinical nurse specialist/therapist in general psychiatry and addictions, where I earned prescriptive authority.

I am often asked what kind of therapy I prefer, and that is a difficult question to answer because it depends on the patient.

Each patient presents with different needs and problems.

Each has a unique personality and ways that they process information. So there is no cookie cutter approach, as all of my therapy is individualized.

I am by nature very warm and compassionate who likes a lot of dialogue with my patients.

I would say my approach would be very Rogerian, mostly because this is my own natural personality.

I like to incorporate the theoretical framework of Jung and enjoy working with dreams and the inevitable synchronicity one finds in our lives.

The scope of my therapy is transpersonal and existential. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said; we are all spiritual beings living in this human experience.

I have found that the vast majority of humans are blind to their true nature as a spark of the divine, and being at lost to their true beauty.

My major goal, besides helping them to alleviate their suffering,  and problems in life, is to gently, with warm compassion lead them back into their true selves.

Coming to Paris was a personal choice stemming from actualizing a lifelong dream of returning here to live.

My love affair with Paris and with France started during a junior year abroad many years ago, studying at the Sorbonne.

I was smitten and somehow knew that my destiny would lead me back to this beautiful city of light and love.

 

23 thoughts on “About Me”

  1. THANKS!!! Cherry, I am so munch a happier person than I was 28 years ago ,and doing things that I thought I could never do , WOW!!! THANKS!!! Again.

    1. Thank you so much Isham for the very kind words! You are an incredible talented man that was evident from the start. We all need someone to believe in us. Love and Hugs to you!

  2. Serena Petiteau

    Love you Cherry!! You were my first and only therapist in Paris. So glad that I found you about 9 years ago and calle you up to make an appt. You helped me through so bad and good times and I will be forever grateful.

    1. Serena, It is me to have been blessed knowing you!!! I love looking at the photos of you, Thierry and your beautiful children.
      Wonderful memories for me > I send you Love!

  3. Jeanne Rowan Ricci

    I loved reading your story. Did you go to medical school in the US or in France? I am curious about the years from high school to graduate school. Connecting with high school friends through Facebook has an interesting effect of bringing life full-circle for me. I wonder if others feel the same. So much life has been experienced from 1963 to 2012, but yet seeing and hearing about those we knew as teens is remarkable.

  4. Heidi Rowan Quenan

    Thank you so much Cherry for sharing your thoughts and insights. Congratulations on a thoughtful and beautiful blog. I look forward to reading it and connecting to you in this way. I am so very happy for you that you are back in France. Much love!

    1. Thank you Heidi for your support. It is wonderful to hear back from you in beautiful New Orleans. Hugs to you!

  5. It seems like i really have let my agoraphboia take a hold over me, to the point,i have missed all of the post you have put here.. You being my theraphist for so many years, i have to say you have saved my life. I use to think I needed you more than ever, but i feel like it is really now, that i need you more than ever.It is hard being a panic patient for so many years..Gosh, now that i think about it, it has been over 35 years now. I know the only way i got this far is because of you. I can still remember the day you followed me in my car, to help me get back to driving. i will never forget that..I thank you so much. i really believe, people like me will always need, the meds, and the therapy..Just the meds by themselves does not work and just thearphy without the meds does not work.

    1. Thank you so much for your very kind words! Becky, you are an incredible talented and very warm woman, who taught me more about panic disorders, and agoraphobia than anyone. Your courage is a testimony of the human spirit, faced with the terror of anxiety and panic that you have fought every day of your life. Thank you also for reinterating that medication is never enough. We all need hands on support and quidance in overcoming whatever holds us back in life. As I have said before, it is I who is blessed to have known you, and will always be grateful.
      Many hugs to you,
      Cherry

  6. Today , our mutual friend, Pam in Shreveport sent this along to me- she shared personal ideas to assit me ina struggle with a chronic illness I am coming to terms with- also my paertner deals with unresolved grief every christmas and this will be helpful to him- I just emailed the article along to my therqpist- another soul on my team helping me to make the most of this situation! So tonight I light the candle, for me for you and your work, for Pam and for all those who face struggle tonight. May we feel and give love abundantly. Thank you, Cherry. You msy know my former husband – Dr. Bob from LSUS????

    1. Thank you Lynn for your very kind comment. I am humbled that my post on Christmas Struggle could help in anyway to provide comfort. Your testimony also helps others in knowing that they are not alone. I hope you will keep lighting those candles in light and love for yourself and others. Your illumination also comes from your heart, which is the most beautiful gift we can offer. Hugs to you!

  7. Hi, Cherry, I was thrilled to discover your blog; it is a great feeling to read your posts and have your wise words in my head again!…You were a great therapist for me and a wonderful friend=I miss you!…Wishing you a belated “Happy New Year” and as always, sending you much love and huge hugs!

    1. Thank you Jacqueline for such a sweet and kind comment. Congratulations on the 3rd anniversary of your blog! You have captured the hearts of many with your precious cats. I am sure Nikki must be helping in getting all those kitties to cooperate in front of the camera! I miss you too. Love and Hugs,
      Cherry
      PS Tried to leave a comment twice on your blog, but couldn’t because said I had to sign in? Tried to without success. Have my own domaine, though blog form is wordpress. Confusing for me as usual.

  8. Martha B. Wagley

    Cherry, We met last year at the Tuesday gathering that Adrian Leeds organized. I am from Memphis, Tennessee and was in Paris, 2012 for 3 months. Now, I am back in Paris but only for June, 2013. I do plan on attending the gathering tomorrow at La Pierre at 3pm. If you are there, please speak to me, as it has been a year since I met you last. 🙂 I enjoyed meeting you so much last year. Hope you are well, Martha Wagley

    1. Thanks so much Martha for leaving a comment on my blog. Not sure about tomorrow, but if possible will try to come. I sent you a personal message and please know that I enjoyed meeting you as well!

  9. You’re thoughtful essay on Ebola and IS reminded me of the need to practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty. Unfortunately, not all who perpetuate evil get their comeuppance in this life; nor do the innocents always see love. In part,this is why I,who believe in an ultimately just universe (Sartre good faith), believe in a hereafter. Thanks for sharing your ongoing journey.

    1. Thank you Herndon for your comment! Life is fragile for us all, though certainly more so for those innocents in certain geographical and geopolitical areas where suffering and risks are everyday occurrences. They deserve our attention, prayers and protection whenever possible. The universal law of karma applies either in this life or the next, either here on earth or beyond. Justice prevails.

  10. Hello and Happy New Year!

    I read your piece on Cathrine de Medici and I really enjoyed it. I have read a lot of history also About her but it was as if they tried to hide who she was and just told a boring story but you nailed her:) I have Margot’s memoirs and maybe it’s time to read them again. I watched Reign because I thought it would tell the real story, but I guess everything made for tv now-a-days is all the same, people find history boring if it doesn’t have a kind of Game of Thrones feel to it. I have subscribed and hope to find more like what I have just read. So keep up the good work and thank you for writing for us who likes the real history.

    Thanks,

    Helle

    1. Thank you so much Helle for your very kind and encouraging comment! As a therapist, I thought Catherine de Medici would be a good example of the malignant warped parenting that created much discord and pain in her children.
      Poor Margot was really mistreated even as an adult by the cruel will of her mother to be locked away. I saw just a few episodes from Reign and I was surprised that she was portrayed so innocently. The multiple historical research I did for the post, along with reading some of the memoires of Margot portray her in a frightening and corrupt way.
      I agree that the series was a very superficial glossy Hollywood coverage that had little to do with real history and personalities of the subjects.
      Welcome to my blog and thank you again for taking the time to write me!

  11. Cherry, Gay and I love reading your blog about Paris and other areas of France. We are getting excited about our upcoming river cruise in the South of France and our TGV travel from Lyon to Paris. We will be staying in Paris for several days and want to connect with you during that time. (Arriving Paris afternoon on June 6, leaving Paris, Saturday, June 9). Gay will contact you soon to coordinate with your schedule.
    Thank you so much for your beautifully written and interesting blog. It is truly a window into your world, France and often other parts of Europe. Looking forward to seeing you soon, God Bless! John & Gay

    1. Thank John for all of your very kind words. I too look forward to seeing you and Gay again soon. The river cruise on the Rhone is through lovely hillside vineyards and tiny villages. The various Cotes du Rhone wines are wonderful and I hope you get to try several of them while there.
      If you need anymore feedback about Paris, let me know.
      Hugs to both of you.

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