Andrea M. Schara

Brief Biography

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Ms. Schara coaches those willing to be leaders in his or her family, those in family based organizations and those involved any social group interested in leadership.

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She also offer  neurofeedback training, prompting the integration of the mind with the body.

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Andrea Schara met Murray Bowen, MD in 1976 while working at a psychiatric hospital as an alcoholism counselor. Bowen accepted her into the Georgetown University  postgraduate program in family therapy and theory, despite her having only two years of college.  She began studying family systems theory and after four years of postgraduate work she was hired in 1980 as the audio-visual coordinator at the Georgetown University Family Center, GUFC. In this job she videotaped much of Dr. Bowen’s work with families. In 1984, she was responsible for coordinating the gift of many of Dr. Bowen’s videotapes to the National Library of Medicine. Working as a social worker clinician, she was awarded a social work license in the District of Columbia.  She also learned biofeedback and did a ten year study of of families with AIDS.  She was appointed to the faculty of the Georgetown Family Center from 1993- 2011 and is currently on the faculty of Navigating Systems in Washington, D.C. She is a founding board member of the Murray Bowen Archives Project. 

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Her latest writings are available on her web site at http://yourmindfulcompass.com/

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Social Work Associate License Number LA422, Washington, DC

• Phone number 203-274-1069

• Email   arms711@aol.com

 

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LONG CV

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Work History:

1978-1980 – Community Faculty, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va.

1976-1980  – Tidewater Psychiatric Hospital, Virginia Beach, Virginia

1980- 1999 – Hired by Murray Bowen, M.D. as the Audiovisual Coordinator and worked on the clinical staff in the department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University Family Center

1980-1999  – Private practice including biofeedback practice at the Bowen Center.

1991- 2003 Appointed to the faculty: Georgetown University Family Center. Continuing coaching practice included neurofeedback training and giving talks on the applications of Bowen Theory in the United States, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and France.

1992 – Developed web site http://yourmindfulcompass.com/

1993 – Consultant to Crossway Community http://www.crossway-community.org/

2003 – Move to Darin Ct., part time office in The Learning Space (http://thelearningspacedc.com/)

2011 – Faculty Navigating Systems http://www.navigatingsystemsdc.com/

 

Major Achievements:

1980 – 1999 Organized the audio-visual library, photographing, and videotaping Dr. Bowen. Oversaw the donation of fifteen years of Dr. Bowen’s clinical tapes with two families to the National Library of Medicine.

1983 –1993 Developed a pilot research project – A Ten Year Study of 50 Families with AIDS- Won a poster presentation at the NIH for this work.

1993 – Began neurofeedback practice

1993 – 2003 Supervised in the special post-graduate training Georgetown Family Center

1997 – Developed Web site http://yourmindfulcompass.com/

2003 – Founded a non profit- Leaders for Tomorrow, LFT, to communicate the ideas of Bowen Theory. LFT was given to the family of Murray Bowen to take on the task of archiving and making available to the public all of Dr. Bowen’s papers audio and videotapes. They will eventually be transferred to the National Library of Medicine, Washington, D.C.

Currently serve as a board member http://murraybowenarchives.org/

2011 – Faculty member of Navigating Systems – A learning forum for those who work with or consult to large family enterprises.  http://navigatingsystemsdc.com/

 

Education

1960-1962  Marymount College, Tarrytown, New York

1976-1982  Georgetown University Family Center, Postgraduate Program

1982-1987 Georgetown University, BA

 

Publications:

• “AIDS and the Family”, Family Center Report Vol. 10:1, Georgetown Family Center, 1989.

• “Communicating Your Diagnosis” Lifetimes, Standtlanders, Pittsburgh, PA.

• “Biofeedback and Family Systems Psychotherapy in the Treatment of HIV Infection”. Biofeedback and Self Regulation; 15:1, p 70-71, 1990.

• “The Family Emotional Unit and Responses to HIV/AIDS”. Paper selected for presentation by the Office on Aids at NIMH, Second Annual Meeting, 1994

• “Leaders, Cooperation, and Anxiety” The Emotional Side of Organizations, Georgetown Family Center, 1996.

• Your Mindful Compass: Breakthrough Strategies For Navigating Life/Work Relationships In Any Social Jungle. Andrea Schara, Ideas to Action 2013. 

• "Bowen Family Systems Theory Today" Family Therapy Magazine, American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, July/August 2017. 

• "Death and AIDS: Families and Society" coming soon.