More About the Author
I've been writing non-fiction books for 30 years. My first book, Under the Influence (co-authored by James Milam, Ph.D.) was published in 1981 and my latest book, "Miss O'Dell" (written with Chris O'Dell) was published in September 2009. My books have been published in sixteen foreign languages and have sold over 1.5 million copies.
In 2000 I began volunteering at the Juvenile Justice Center in Walla Walla, leading educational groups and working individually with adolescents in trouble with alcohol and other drugs. I've worked there ever since, as both a paid employee and volunteer,meeting with young people in detention and on probation.
From October 2001 to October 2003, I wrote a bi-monthly newspaper column for the Walla Walla Union Bulletin titled "Straight Talk About Drugs." I am currently working on a newspaper column about kids, drugs, and parents and hope to start publishing it in the summer of 2010.
In 2003, working with a group of committed parents, I started a parent support group at the Juvenile Justice Center in Walla Walla, which continues to this day. I am also deeply involved in community efforts to develop and expand community-based recovery support services for youth and families. Our grassroots group Trilogy Recovery Community is part of the national recovery movement spearheaded by Faces and Voices of Recovery in Washington, D.C.
I grew up in New Jersey and graduated from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York with a degree in psychology in 1971. I have lived and worked in Boston, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, San Francisco, Seattle, and Ohio. In 1984, I moved to Walla Walla, Washington with my husband, Patrick Spencer, a professor of geology at Whitman College. We have three children -- Robyn, 28, a graduate of Willamette University and Boston University's Speech/Language Pathology master's program; Alison, 26, a graduate of the University of Montana who lives in Denver and works for a real estate development firm; and Benjamin, 24, who will graduate from Whitman College in May 2010 and move to Nashville to work as a Teach for America Corps member. My extended family -- brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, and on it goes -- is a great source of joy. I love roses and having my hands in the dirt; golf (I get worse every year, a lesson in humility for sure); walks; yoga; and photography. Someday I hope to devote more time to taking portraits of children and families.
