About Mary

Hi there -

It feels like a daunting task to write about myself. I find I'm pondering where I have been, who I’ve met and what I have accomplished.  I thought the simplest way might be to give you a thumbnail chronology of my career as a mental health professional. But this became tedious so after awhile, as you will see, I've ended this with a few paragraphs.

1982            Specialized in counseling individuals and families who were devastated by a homicide, suicide or the accidental death of a loved one.   This was and is sacred, authentic work.  When we are challenged with profound loss we are thrown, without choice, into an emotional, mental, physical and spiritual upheaval where satisfactory resolution seems impossible to find. 

1989          The Loma Prieta Earthquake shook us all up. I started out working with my colleague Donna Morrish, LMFT, at the coroner’s office.  She handed over to me her job as the director of the Grief Counseling Project for Alameda County’s Suicide Prevention Agency in 1990.  As such, I oversaw the outreach and two year recovery program (FEMA) for the 42 families who had a loved one die in that earthquake’s Cyprus Freeway collapse.    

1990          I became a trained debriefer in Critical Incident Stress Management.  Worked with law enforcement, fire fighters and EMS personnel. Became a member of a mutual aide disaster team. Since then have provided care in numerous situations and disasters.

1992          I oversaw the recovery program for the 25 families who had a loved one die due to the disastrous Oakland Hills Fire Storm.

1992          I established a Standard of Care for death notification and acute grief support and Co-founded Grief STEP Program, a training organization. Since then I have trained professionals and volunteers in how to provide death notification and crisis grief support throughout the United States.  In 2002 I was privileged to train trainers from the Reykjavik Fire Department who have now establish this program as the standard for Iceland.

1995          I was sworn in as an Honorary Firefighter. Fremont Fire Department, CA.

1998          I became the Director for Mental Health for an International Rescue Team. As a guest of the Peruvian Fire Department, I was a visiting lecturer for the University of Lima and a Guest Speaker for International Woman’s Day. I also had the privilege of working side-by-side Peru’s Volunteer Fire Department, Civil Defense workers and the elite British Search and Rescue Team. This was a year of the disastrous El Niño where there were devastating landslides and flooding.  We followed this up with a trip to Nova Scotia due to the Swissair Crash Flight 111.  I was assigned to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, I provided CISM peer/group consultation and support to local emergency services and community members, plus our own team.

Since 1992 I have given many talks and workshops on mental health topics such as:  trauma, disaster, crisis, death, grief and stress to both the business community and emergency services. Some of my customers have been or are: California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans), California State Office of Emergency Medical Service Authority including the San Francisco Fire and Public Health Department, Riverside and Alameda County’s EMS, Henrico Fire Department, VA,  several fire fighter organizations, the Peruvian Fire Department, the Reykjavik Fire Department of Iceland, and the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta GA.

In 2004 I became a Trained Trainer for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation specific to CISM: Individual Crisis Intervention and in 2006 I became a Trained Trainer for CISM: Group Crisis Intervention.  I will again start presenting these classes in the fall 2006.

As I found myself traveling the world of disaster I realized I had become an expert in the prevention and treatment of trauma.   Hence, throughout my disaster and emergency work I have maintained a psychotherapy practice where I provide treatment for a variety of problems.

In 1996 I moved to Sacramento as a staff clinician for Pacific Applied Psychology Associates.  In 1997 I started a new private practice in Sacramento.  Along with providing individual psychotherapy, I am asked to give group talks or debriefings about two times a month and offer workshops 2-4 times a year.

e-mail Mary at mary@maryreigel.com

California Licensed Marraige, Family Therapist # MFC31887
Copywrite ©2008 Mary S. Reigel
3336 Bradshaw Road Suite 340
Sacramento, CA 95827