My Bio:
Barbara Heffernan, LCSW, LADC, has a private psychotherapy practice in Norwalk, CT, which focuses on anxiety, trauma, life transitions, co-dependency and behavioral and chemical addictions.  Barbara is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor.  She is trained in EMDR and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.  She is a dynamic public speaker and workshop leader.  She actively utilizes meditation, visualization and spirituality in her psychotherapy practice and her workshops.  Barbara has studied meditation in Buddhist, Hindi and Shamanic traditions, and has practiced meditation for fifteen years. 

Barbara was the Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Crisis Center in Fairfield County, CT, from 2003-2007. Barbara oversaw the operation of this agency with a total of 30 employees, 80 volunteers certified in domestic violence, and a 23 member volunteer Board of Directors.  Barbara orchestrated the growth of the agency from a budget of $1.2 million to almost $1.7 million during this time, implementing expansions in all areas of the agency, including: services in Spanish; the development of task forces in each of the five suburbs served by the agency; the continuation of a coordinated community response in Stamford; and the implementation of a coordinated community response in Norwalk.  Barbara also led the agency’s advocacy efforts to bring a domestic violence docket court to Norwalk, which was successfully implemented in 2006.  
 
Barbara has a BA from Yale University, an MBA from Columbia University and an MSW from Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU).  From 1982 until 1998, Barbara worked in Investment Banking, co-heading the Chicago Mergers and Acquisitions effort for Merrill Lynch from 1995 through 1998.  In 1998, Barbara decided to switch careers, and spent time working in direct service social work.  She worked directly with clients in individual, couple and group therapy at a mental health treatment center and at a women’s substance abuse treatment center.  From 2002 through 2005, Barbara taught group therapy as an Adjunct Professor in the SCSU Department of Social Work; since the fall of 2007, she has been teaching a course on clinical social work with individuals.  Barbara opened her private psychotherapy practice in the fall of 2006.