My Professional Story

Over the past 30 years, I have always worked in some capacity serving persons affected by mental illness .  The totality of those years has allowed me to understand how mental illness erodes a person’s quality of life by undermining independence, financial viability, and long term wellness.  My career has taken me to many health and disability arenas - from community mental health, to disability management in the workplace, to psychiatric interventions across the US, to estate and trust planning for persons with disability.  I have been privileged to be part of it all.

In the 90s, my rehabilitation work for women executives with depression was named a National Innovation Model in 1997 by the American Psychiatric Association.  From 2001 - 2014, my private case management firm (O’Connor Associates) delivered an average 81% reduction in inpatient hospital days and 53% reduction in transitional hospital days for its clients nationwide. In the present, I am serving in two client service areas – developing a new online social platform to link families managing a loved one with mental illness (Family Psych Consumer), and providing financial case management services for families managing a loved one with mental illness (Disability Financial Services/DFS). 

My hybrid career has been the subject of multiple media, including The New York Times, Psychiatric News, National Public Radio, and The Washington Business Journal. Most recently, in 2016, I published an article in the Family Court Review on the concept of ‘parent recovery’ for families managing adult children with mental illness. Read Article