About

Abbie attended Macalester College and studied English and Comparative Religions. She earned her Masters in Social Work from the University of Minnesota School of Social Work where she was awarded the Excellence in Evaluation award and served as a research assistant for the then Director of the School of Social Work, Dr. John C. Bricout. During that time, Abbie was also a community organizer for the Minneapolis Poor People’s Campaign and the field director for Mark Haase for Hennepin County Attorney. 

After graduate school, Abbie was the program manager for Project CLEAR, connecting RECLAIM, St. Paul Public Schools, the Sexual Violence Center, and Ramsey County Public Health in preventing, reporting, and intervening around relationship violence impacting queer and trans youth. During this time she joined the boards of Jewish Community Action and Shir Tikvah Congregation. Abbie is currently the Vice President of Shir Tikvah Congregation in Minneapolis, MN.

Abbie owns a private mental health therapy practice with clinical expertise is in complex trauma, spiritual abuse, and gender, sexuality, and identity. Her practice is located in the Ivy Arts Building in Minneapolis, MN. Abbie is credentialed with UCare, Hennepin Health, UnitedHealthCare/UMR/Medica, BlueCross BlueShield, all Medical Assistance/PMAP plans. She is awaiting credentialing from HealthPartners.

Abbie’s theoretical framework as a therapist comes first from relationships, then from community organizing, and finally from narrative therapy and healing justice frameworks. In this way, Abbie is committed to resisting therapy as a mode of social control and investing in alternative model of resourcing and collaboration to support self confidence, self determination, and self compassion. To read more about the communities of wisdom and practice that resource Abbie and her practice, please visit the Resources page.

Abbie completed a year of formal training with the Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, earned a certificate in the yearlong program from the Evanston Family Therapy Center in Narrative Therapy, completed EMDR Level One training, AIR Network training, Level One training for Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy training at the Institute for Integrative Therapies in Eden Prairie, MN.

As a trainer and consultant, Abbie specializes in burnout prevention for frontline workers and community safety practices in building alternatives to policing.

She has worked with the Hennepin Health Adolescent Gender Clinic, the Hennepin County Public Defenders, Lake Street Council, Macalester College, and multiple neighborhood associations in the Twin Cities. In 2020, Abbie developed the Safety is Communal workshop to resource people in reimagining safety in their neighborhoods. This project has trained hundreds of individuals and dozens of facilitators in this model applying polyvagal theory to community safety interventions.

As an adjunct professor, Abbie teaches and learns with MSW students about anti oppressive social work practice at the the University of Minnesota School of Social Work. She has taught Social Work and Power, Privilege, and Oppression, Treatment and Assessment of Trauma, and Therapy as Community Organizing Practice. 

An ideal day for Abbie begins with a long walk by the Mississippi River followed by time for personal learning. The work day continues with a combination of therapy and coaching sessions. Sometimes the day will end with facilitating a training or attending a Board or other community meeting.  

When not working, Abbie rejoices in participating in Jewish community and spending time outside. She was in the first cohort of Shleimut and is an active member of Tzedek Lab and frequently participates in the IOWA Project to continue learning and growing as a spiritual leader. She is the happy human of an 80 pound goofy rescue hound and a three month old human.

I am committed to this work of liberation for the long haul and that requires me to develop resources and rituals of wellbeing to be present, reliable, consistent, and healthy as we face the intensity of what we are up against.

Years ago, when I was a receptionist, my job was to open up the office. I arrived before everyone else. I disliked the fluorescent lights in that office, so I brought a lamp from home that I found on sale. It had a simple wooden base and a yellow lampshade. As people came into the office, I’d turn on the larger lights. When I took a break, I’d turn my lamp off. This lamp, much to my surprise, became a symbol of when I was “in”. When I left at the end of the day, I’d turn it off for then night. When I left that job, I took home the lamp, and brought it to my new desk. The day I packed up my office in March of 2020 to begin working from home, the lamp moved from my office to my work space at home. The lamp, and the light it emits, gives me a ritual of containment.

Jewish spiritual practices also provide significant support to my wellbeing. I am involved in my synagogue and Jewish practices anchor my days, weeks, months, and seasons, connecting me to my ancestors and the ancient wisdom that they kept alive for all of the people who turn towards Judaism for nourishment, beauty, and awe.

I have a strong community of colleagues, friends, teachers, healers, and mentors who offer consultation, coaching, friendship, and collaboration to reduce isolation and increase my experience of mutuality in doing radical social work. I intentionally align with a lineage of thinkers and doers that reminds me that this project of personal and social transformation neither starts or ends with me. Continuing to learn helps me feel excited and motivated and keeps me in communities of practice.

There is a false divide in social work between “micro” and “macro” practice that I intentionally disrupt. This is a practice of holding the whole that helps me have perspective and integration, connecting individual relationships and stories to the social policies we need to change the world for everyone’s wellbeing.

I am grateful for the support of my partner and our beloved 80 pound hound dog, Julian, who keep me honest and make me laugh.