blue canoe
by Drs. Marilee, Jay & participating friends
(low/no-fee services for at-risk, gender questioning
gender creative, transitioning children & youth
unaccompanied minor, uprooted, 'traveling children",
homeless, victimized US street youth, migrant/refugees)
Asylum Evaluations & Treatment
Concierge Psychotherapy * Family, Dependency,
Juvenile Court related or mandated therapies
Founding Executive Dir., Abbey Asylum & Refugee Services,
Engaged Abbey, Abbey Global Consult
Center for Survivors of Torture, SJ, CA
Contracting Community
Psychologist since Center's inception
Founding Executive Director, always be listening
global initiative, 501(c)(3), 2015 - present
alwaysbelisteningglobal.com
global humanitarian project for
"global Traveling Children":
war/armed conflict affected, forcibly displaced,
unaccompanied children & youth at
geopolitically unstable high risk borders
in twelve countries
thoughtfully developed and sponsored in the US & globally by
Dr. Marilee Ruebsamen, Ph.D. & Dr. James "Jay" Livingston, Ph.D.
and Participating Friends
Abbey Psychological Services
Monterey and Saratoga, CA
Children's Mental Health and Wellbeing
Strengthening Adults Relationships with their Children
and
always be listening global initiative
alwaysbelisteningglobal.com
global humanitarian nonprofit in twelve countries
501(c)(3) 3.2014
promoting precision/personalized assessment based treatment
for war/armed conflict-affected children & youth
forcibly displaced and wandering geopolitically unstable borders
at tremendous risk of exploitation and death.
Dr. Marilee, formerly
Clinical Director, Intern Training Program,
Sutter Center for Psychiatry, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
Associate Professor, Pt-time Faculty,
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, PA, CA
Director, SAFECARE for Children Project, wednesday's child Projects,
Health Trust of SC County, CA
Clinical Director, Dir. Intern Program,
SSPH Therapeutic (Special Ed.) School, SJ, CA
Special Ed. Instructor, Public Schools, twelve yrs.
Santa Clara Unified School District, Santa Clara, CA
subject matter focus & expertise, select
Modern & traditional Attachment Theory, Global Child Development
within transactions, across contexts
Nature & Effects, Assessment & Treatment: Unresolved Interparental Conflict
& Violence Exposure on Children
Trauma, Inner Representations & Neuroplasticity;
Effects of Lack of Social Cradle on Mothers & Infants
Contemporary Trauma Theory, Adverse Childhood Experiences,
Parenting, Protective Buffering, Coping; Hope
Promoting Child & Youth Connectedness,
Peer Friendships, Competencies, Coping & Hope
Child Suicidality, Failures of inclusion into Reconstituted Family,
Expendability, Alienation dynamics, Realistic Estrangement
Stressors accompanying Poverty, Effects of multiple moves
& Transitions, & Cyclical Homelessness on Children
Contributions of Psychological Assessment to Diagnosis
and Intervention, Child & Adult Trauma Assessment
Trauma & Refugee, Post-Conflict, Post-Settlement, Asylum Psychology
affiliate, ally, member, rotating memberships
for abbey & always, or following:
Amer Psychological Assoc. Div. 56 (Trauma Psychology)
American Prof. Society on the Abuse of Children
Society of Clin. Child/Adol Psychology
Nat'l Scientific Council on the Developing Child | Harvard Center
on the Developing Child | Child in Mind NYCD
**European Society of Traumatic Stress; Mental Health
& Psychosocial Support Network, International
**Human Health Aid Burundi | **N.E.A.R. Humanitarian
Network | **Art Refuge UK
Supporting RISE Refugee and Immigrant Services, Sergio Medina
**UN Committee Against Children
in Armed Conflict | Care4Calais
**International Assoc. of Professionals in Humanitarian
Assistance & Protection, Geneva, Cert'd.
HealthRight International | Doctors of the World
**Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)
World Assoc. of Infant Mental Health | Doctors Without Borders MSF
Preemptive Love Coalition - Love Anyway!
Child Health & Human Rights, Global Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard School of Medicine
Yale School of Medicine, Dept. of Child Study (MINDMAP
for first psychosis) Cambridge University Research
for Parents: The Greater Good Science Center, greatergood.
berkeley.edu, Child MIND, The JED Foundation (Suicidality in Youth)
mission
comprehensive, compassionate precision child/family & adult adult
psychological services in the US & globally.
through direct, conversational, need-based and traditional
assessment & art "uprooted", "traveling children"
of global war and children of high inter-parental unresolved
conflict symbolically communicate.
we train ourselves to be fully present, listen to
, understand symbolic communication,
intuit & absorb the experience (nature & effects)
of severe, extreme stress & trauma
of "uprooted" "traveling children" and "expendable"
child of war, death, bereavement, loss, chronic terror
and the unique, unrecognized traumatic stress experience
children of unresolved high conflict domestic situations
such as separations or divorces characterized
by high conflict or domestic violence.
challenge
we continually seek to understand our own
emotional responses for what they are,
"what you see and hear depends a good
deal on where you are standing:
it also depends on what sort of person you are."
C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew
understand how they may impede or contribute
to understanding the ways children have coped
while in highly stressful contexts, and, in the US and globally
, when homeless, uprooted, unaccompanied, unprotected,
how their symptoms are presently viewed and maintained,
and how those symptoms can best be diminished.
vision
to rapidly, accurately assess children of stressful contexts
, understand their direct, individual experiences,
and rapidly, accurately differentiate psychosocial
and psychiatric need.
successfully match children with appropriate, accessible,
quality therapeutic interventions,
uniquely drawing directly from what
children themselves reveal.
Where indicated, we may conduct standardized psychological
assessment to answer specific questions.
we ask clarifying questions regarding coping
"how have you managed? coped?
(so well)?" "how, exactly, did you cope?
how are you doing now?"
we listen closely for their exact description -
what is remembered/recalled of their stressful experiences
how they managed to cope, and what painful,
traumatic, or post traumatic symptoms remain.
results obtained inform children's treatment and potential
family, friend, and supportive others' involvement
in treatment.
as we interview and listen, we measure overall wellbeing
skillful, practiced, precise empathic listening
allows us to measure, quantify, children's
a. direct exposure to traumatic experiences
b. ways of coping
c. current wellbeing & mental health status.
We measure their wellbeing in terms of presence
of expressed psychosocial distress
and/or strengths (sturdy, flexible coping & mental health)
vs. the expression of psychiatric symptoms
(anxiety, depression, dissociation, etc.)
(absence of more severe mental health symptoms.)
as a result,
we can knowledgeably make decisions for
precision treatment/interventions.
We are confident that by refining the manner
in which treatment decisions are based,
(grounding them in precise, accurate, measurement),
we maximize the potential for timely, contextualized,
personalized, ("precision") interventions -
providing a rapid, clear, accurate & valid, treatment
pathway for recovery and wellbeing.
Dr. James D. "Jay" Livingston, Ph.D., Sr. Clin. Psychologist
abbey psychological services, present
abbeypsychservices.com jamesdlivingstonphd@yahoo.com
Mindful & Compassionate, Evidence-Based, Precision Care
Clinical and Forensic Consultation, Assessment,
Intervention, Training, Supervision
Fellow, Society for Personality Assessment,
American Psychological Association
Founding Executive Board Member, the always project,
always be listening global initiative
Attending Psychologist, Santa Clara County/Monterey
Correctional Facility, present
Center for Torture Survivors, SJ, CA, Contracting Psychologist
former
Center for Survivors of Torture, Senior Staff Psychologist
Asian Americans for Community Involvement
Clinical Psychologist, Children's Behavioral Health, Monterey County CA
Associate Professor, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
UC Berkeley Extension, University of CA at Berkeley
Adjunct Professor, Psychological Assessment,
CSPP at Alliant University, San Francisco, CA
subject matter expertise
Refuge and Trauma Psychology, Asylum psychology
Psychological Assessment; Performance-Based Assessment
The Rorschach Test with Children and Adults
Contributions of Psychological Assessment to Diagnosis
and Intervention, emphasis on Trauma and Child Trauma
Nature, Effects, Measurement, and Treatment of Interpersonal,
Interparental Violence Exposure on Children and Youth
ally, member, rotating memberships
HealthRight International | Doctors of the World
Physicians for Human Rights
UN Committee Against Children in Armed Conflict
RISE Refugee and Immigrant Services, Sergio Medina
abbey psychological services, present
abbeypsychservices.com jamesdlivingstonphd@yahoo.com
Mindful & Compassionate, Evidence-Based, Precision Care
Clinical and Forensic Consultation, Assessment,
Intervention, Training, Supervision
Fellow, Society for Personality Assessment,
American Psychological Association
Founding Executive Board Member, the always project,
always be listening global initiative
Attending Psychologist, Santa Clara County/Monterey
Correctional Facility, present
Center for Torture Survivors, SJ, CA, Contracting Psychologist
former
Center for Survivors of Torture, Senior Staff Psychologist
Asian Americans for Community Involvement
Clinical Psychologist, Children's Behavioral Health, Monterey County CA
Associate Professor, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
UC Berkeley Extension, University of CA at Berkeley
Adjunct Professor, Psychological Assessment,
CSPP at Alliant University, San Francisco, CA
subject matter expertise
Refuge and Trauma Psychology, Asylum psychology
Psychological Assessment; Performance-Based Assessment
The Rorschach Test with Children and Adults
Contributions of Psychological Assessment to Diagnosis
and Intervention, emphasis on Trauma and Child Trauma
Nature, Effects, Measurement, and Treatment of Interpersonal,
Interparental Violence Exposure on Children and Youth
ally, member, rotating memberships
HealthRight International | Doctors of the World
Physicians for Human Rights
UN Committee Against Children in Armed Conflict
RISE Refugee and Immigrant Services, Sergio Medina