Maryland's Source for
Attachment Disorder Related Information







 

 

 

 

 


 

 

About Us

Our group is comprised of three professionals who are committed to research and treatment of attachment related issues.


Lawrence B. Smith, LCSW-C has 30 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and their families; and the majority of that experience has been with children who demonstrated severe emotional disturbance. His training spans a range of theory and treatment methodologies including, cognitive behavioral techniques, neurolinguistic programming, EMDR, and kinesiology.

In 1992, Mr. Smith co-authored, with a parent, as part of a statewide project in Maryland, The Coping Skills Manual, which is a guidebook for parenting children with serious emotional difficulties. This manual is still being used currently, both in Maryland and other states as well.

Since 1993, Mr. Smith has specialized in working with children with Attachment Disorders. He has written several training outlines for understanding and working with these children; and these outlines are being used by parents and professionals around the country in addition to being posted on numerous websites.

Currently, Mr. Smith and several colleagues are developing this website, AttachmentDisorderMaryland.com, to coordinate attachment resources in the Washington, D.C. region.

Lawrence B. Smith LCSW-C

Office Address:
8720 Georgia Avenue
Suite 802
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910


lbsmith@md.net

Mailing Address:
9305 Mintwood Street
Silver Spring, Maryland 20901


Amy W. Grier, LCSW-C has been a clinician specializing in treating attachment disturbance in children since 1997. She is currently in private practice in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Ms. Grier received her BA from the University of Virginia in 1988 and her Masters in Social Work from the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 1993. After working with children in foster care and adoption through a Social Services agency, she became intrigued by the phenomenon of children who could appear charming and delightful, yet who repeatedly lost their foster and adoptive placements. Coming to understand the dynamics of attachment disorder led to a desire to help those children and families overcome the barriers to closeness.

In 1996, she completed post-masters training with Dr. Gregory Keck, PhD and Mary C. Owen, LCSW. After apprenticing with Kathleen G. Moss, LCSW, ACSW, she founded Adoption/Attachment Partners (AAP) in northern Virginia together with Mary Owen, Kathleen Moss, and David Kerrigan, PhD. AAP has developed a national reputation for treatment of and education regarding attachment disorders in the domestically and internationally adopted populations as well as within birth families.

Ms. Grier was also a founder of a professional networking group that has provided information, referral and peer support to professionals interested in attachment issues in the suburban Washington DC area.

Most recently, Ms. Grier has been a trainer in the Attachment Training Seminars sponsored by the Center for Adoptive Families of Adoptions Together, Inc. in Silver Spring and Baltimore, Maryland. This series provides continuing education and supervision to clinicians and case workers in the suburban Washington, DC and Baltimore areas in an effort to promote an awareness of attachment issues as they impact families and children. In addition, Ms. Grier has spoken both locally and nationally on attachment issues, including sexual abuse and other traumas, adoption and attachment issues, and parenting to promote healthy attachments.

Amy W. Grier, LCSW-C
8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 905
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910

202 494-3680
awgrier@msn.com


Lisa J. Hoffmeyer Ph.D.
2324 West Joppa Road, Suite 420
Lutherville, Maryland 21093
Psylisa@aol.com


Kate Oliver, LCSW-C has been a clinician working with traumatized and attachment disturbed children since 2000. She is currently in private practice in Columbia, Maryland.

Ms. Oliver earned her BA from Goucher College in 1997 and her Master’s in Social Work in 2000. Following her internship there, Ms. Oliver first worked with The Sexual Trauma Treatment Advocacy and Recovery Center (The STTAR Center) working with abused and neglected children. While working for The STTAR Center, Ms. Oliver completed the first Attachment Training Seminar, followed by a year of supervision, sponsored by the Center for Adoptive Families of Adoptions Together, Inc, taught by Amy Grier, LCSW-C, Louise Fleishman, LCSW-C and Ann Haman, LCSW-C. Ms. Oliver found that the treatment model taught during this seminar was more effective for her attachment disordered clients than traditional therapy. She began working with an attachment based model of treatment and incorporating it into her practice but wanted to learn more.

Ms. Oliver went on to take a position with Tamar’s Children, a program that took pregnant women from prison to a treatment facility that worked on teaching the women to bond with and attach to their babies using a modified Circle of Security model, while also helping the women to heal their own broken attachments. Ms. Oliver was quickly promoted to Clinical Director of Tamar’s Children. The program was internationally recognized for having a successful evidence-based practice using an attachment model. In addition to the original Tamar’s Children program, Ms. Oliver added a component to help women involved in Tamar’s Children to be supportive parents in a way that was best for their older children including, biological parents giving children permission to love a new family or working toward reunification.

Recently, Ms. Oliver co-founded A Healing Place, a private group practice in Columbia, Maryland where she focuses on working with families with children who have attachment disturbances. Ms. Oliver is a board certified supervisor. She has been an invited presenter at several of the Adoptions Together Attachment Training seminars following the one she completed and continues to be dedicated to increasing her knowledge and practice experience working with attachment disturbed children.

Kate Oliver, LCSW-C
10451 Twin Rivers Road
Suite 400
Columbia, MD 21044

443-325-0360
kate@ahealingplaceincolumbia.com

 

 

 


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lbsmith@md.net

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© 2005-2007 Attachment Disorder Maryland, Inc. All rights reserved. Last updated September 19, 2007