“I am passionate about kids, and passionate about helping parents have great relationships with their children! I believe that parents have everything that it takes to help their kids negotiate life in the 21 century. I have a special soft spot for teenagers and their parents, especially for those going through difficult times.”

Susan (AKA ‘Doc’ by her students) is a board certified, licensed pediatrician who has practiced for fifteen years. In a career change that has left her still shaking her head , she is also a high school teacher and director of high school musicals. She has spoken at churches and conferences about marriage, parenting and teens in trouble, at schools about ADHD, and medical conferences about childhood and teenage development and psychiatric problems.

She has been married 27 years and has three kids now in college and beyond. She and her pastor husband have personal experience with a troubled teen and have been parents in crisis. “Following the illness of one of my teens, I made the difficult choice to leave medicine so that I could be intensely and intentionally involved in the life of my kids.” She knows what it takes to parent when the way gets hard.

She has international experience, having grown up in Afghanistan, and lived in the Philippines and Ecuador. She has been back to Kabul four times in the last four years helping young women learn.

“Working with kids and their parents, wherever they are, seeing them learn, smile, create, achieve and love each other is my life!”

Whether overseas, or in her office as a pediatrician, her classroom, her stage or her home, she is always open to kids and their parents. Her house overflows with kids. “I used to worry about ‘empty nest,’ but no more! Open your arms, and more children than you can even think about will jump into them!”

She would love to coach you, to share with you her medical, developmental and teaching knowledge, to dive into your family and find the heart and soul that drives you and yours, and to give you help, a holding hand, a shoulder to cry on, advice and humor as you negotiate parenting in the 21 century.