JEAN RATNER LCSW, founder and Director of the Center, a clinical social worker, is a highly experienced psychotherapist in private practice who has over twenty years specializing in the treatment of panic disorder and phobias. Her B.A. is from Smith College and her masters degree in social work was done at Simmons School of Social Work in Boston. Jean has offices in Kensington and Bethesda.
Jean was a fearful flyer years ago and stopped flying for several years. After overcoming her own fear of flying, Jean is now flying very comfortably, including long distance flgihts in the last several years to Australia/New Zealand, Greece, Turkey, Israel and most recently to China. With her own experience as a fearful flier, Jean founded and is devoted to this program to help others learn about planes and coping strategies so they can travel wherever and whenever they want to or need to.
CORNELIA TIETKE, LICSW is a therapist in private practice who specializes in treating anxiety disorders. She has overcome her claustrophobia enough to fly in airplanes with ease and to ride in elevators when she feels like it. She earned her B.A. at Harvard and her MSW at Catholic University. Her office is in Northwest D.C. close to the Friendship Heights metro.
From
our personal experiences with phobias, as well as our professional
training and many years of experience, we know how to help you. We
will teach you what you need to know about how a plane gets safely
up in the sky on take-off; what turbulence is, what holds your
plane safe during turbulence, and all about weather conditions. You
will also learn highly effective relaxation skills and we will make
you a personal relaxation cassette/CD for practice between
sessions. In addition we have written materials and a videotape of
the inside of a plane during boarding and flight which our
fliers have found extremely helpful. All of your own specific
issues will be addressed.
Our role is to be your
coach, providing you with skills; giving you all the experiences and encouragement
you need to take the first steps towards your travel goals. In
addition to our fear of flying classes, we also help many people
with difficulty driving on highways, going over bridges, going
through tunnels, and using the Metro with its steep
escalators.
Giving you new information, skills, tools,
and confidence, your Center For Travel Anxiety coach will get you
on your way. Your world will expand, and we know
that you will gain a tremendous sense of personal freedom.
