My Background
Milwaukee has always been my home. I was raised here and decided to return after graduating from Drake University in Des Moines, IA with a degree in Elementary Education. Upon my return, I began substituting and quickly landed a job as a physical education teacher. After a year of teaching PE, I was offered a Second Grade position where I taught for six years. It was in that classroom where I realized that I truly enjoyed working with my students to help them resolve their complicated home situations. A light bulb went off in my head and I applied to graduate school to pursue a doctorate in Clinical Psychology.
I was accepted into the Master’s program at Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology (WSPP), the only clinical psychology program in the state. After receiving my Master’s degree, I continued in the program to pursue my doctorate in Child Psychology. At the same time, my wife and I began our happy family which includes two girls. In addition, I stopped teaching and began seeing clients at North Shore Psychotherapy Associates (NSPA) in Glendale, WI. With a lot of love from my family, patience from my supervisors at WSPP, and my own perseverance, I received my doctorate (Psy.D.) in July of 2015.
After graduation, I continued to see clients at NSPA. My practice seemed to become focused on children, adolescents, and adults with anxiety disorders. In addition, much of my practice focused on people with Asperger’s Syndrome (sometimes referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder), depression, sleep problems, anger, as well as several other disorders. In the fall of 2018, I decided it was time to start my own practice. I opened Sunrise Counseling, LLC in February of 2019. While I truly miss my colleagues at NSPA, I am really enjoying having my own space. In addition to my work with clients, I am the President of the Wisconsin Psychological Association (WPA, https://wipsychology.org/ ), teach graduate students at the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology, and am one of the psychology staff of the Milwaukee Ballet ( https://www.milwaukeeballet.org/ ). I look forward to seeing you at Sunrise!
Dr. Z
