- pronouns She, Her, Hers
- education BA (Psychology and Sociology), Rice University
MSW (Clinical Concentration), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Post-Masters Parent-Infant Fellowship, JF&CS Boston
I’ve worked for 15 years in the fields of family support, perinatal health, and supporting families impacted by substance use. I have a strong interest in policy and research, and have presented my work at local, national and international conferences. I love teaching and training across various disciplines. My experience working in two states and living in two countries helps me stay grounded in what is possible across a variety of systems. I believe strongly in principles of adult learning and appropriate use of self in the classroom and hope to model that for my students.
Courses
CP 772 Clinical Practice with Families
CP 809 Substance Use Disorders: Assessment and Intervention
Publications
Spielman, E., Herriott, A., Paris, R. and Sommer, A. (2015). Building a model program for substance-exposed newborns and their families: From needs assessment to intervention, evaluation, and consultation. Zero to Three,36 (1), 47-55.
Spielman, E. and Sommer, A. (2015, June). Shame, guilt and fear: Understanding and working with the complex feelings of mothers of substance exposed newborns. Webinar 4 in the series “Supporting Children Affected by Perinatal Substance Exposure”. Available at http://aia.berkeley.edu/training/online/webinars/2015-aia-webinar-series/
Sommer, A. and Spielman, E. (2014). Child-parent psychotherapy for families with substance use disorders. In Allen, B. and Kronenberg, M., Eds. Bringing research into practice: Case studies in evidence-based treatment with maltreated children.
Gerson, L., Meyerhardt, J., Ross, M., and Sommer, A. (2011). Students and field instructors in ongoing supervision groups. Field Educator, 1(1), Fall. Available online at http://fieldeducator.simmons.edu/?issue=volume-1-1-fall-2011