About Leah

Leah is a writer, psychotherapist, amateur photographer and enthusiastic traveler. Her forthcoming memoir, My Marriage Sabbatical, A Memoir of Solo Travel and Lasting Love combines these interests and describes a year of traveling alone in her sixties and its impact on her husband, herself and on their marriage.

As a Writer

Leah is fascinated with relationships. My Marriage Sabbatical explores the challenge of being faithful and true to your partner while remaining faithful and true to yourself. Her writing aims to share with readers what she has learned about successful marriage in her own life and through a long career as a marital therapist. Her memoir is a very intimate and honest story about a perfectly imperfect marriage of more than thirty years.

As a Psychotherapist

Leah has worked since 1972 with individuals, couples and groups. To support couples in negotiating their shared lives, she designed an annual evaluation and planning process for couple relationships and family life. On their own or at weekend retreats, couples learn skills for successfully evaluating the previous year and planning a future that addresses the needs and wishes of both partners. Link to Couples Retreats.

“Because of our work together, I can feel good about what I have to give, and I don’t need to feel so ashamed about what I don’t have. You’ve helped me become the mother I wanted to be. I look at my daughters and I realize that children who aren’t even born yet will have better lives because of what we did together.”

Leah’s delight in young children and her interest in photography came together in her photographs of children during her travels. Her business card now reads “Global Grandma”. You can see her photos of children around the world in the photo gallery as well as photos related to various chapters in the book.

As a Photographer

As a Traveler

Leah’s preferred way to travel is to get out of big cities and head for a small town. There she finds a family to live with, a B&B, or some other living situation that will draw her into the community and the culture. Then Leah looks for ways to be of service. This has included counseling survivors of natural disasters, participating in local projects or informally using her skills as a counselor, an English language speaker or a mom.

To engage with children, Leah travels with an inflatable globe that serves as soccer ball or geography lesson. All these approaches make travel more meaningful and help her turn strangers into friends.

Leah is dedicated to empowering people to live fully and authentically. Leah supports individuals to fully blossom. She has discovered that for some people, later life is when the courage for self-realization emerges. Leah’s work involves supporting others in identifying their dreams and growing the confidence to bring them to life. She has pursued this mission of empowerment through her own life, individual and couple counseling and weekend planning workshops. Her goal in writing, My Marriage Sabbatical, is to encourage inspiration, exploration and empowerment.

Leah has two grown children. She loves being a “wild” and “crazy” grandma to her four grandchildren. She lives with her husband in the San Francisco Bay Area.