Dr. Kavanaugh is a psychotherapist and
ordained minister (UCC) who founded the Counseling
Center at New
York City's Riverside
Church in 1978. She
served as Director of the Counseling Center and as clergy at Riverside through 2011. She holds a Master of
Divinity from Union Theological Seminary; Certificates in Pastoral
Psychotherapy and Marriage and Family Therapy from Blanton-Peale Graduate
Institute; and a Doctor of Ministry in Psychology and Clinical Studies from Andover-Newton Theological School. She received a "Distinguished Alumna" Award from BGPI for her leadership in the field.
She is currently
in private practice in New York City.
Dr. Kavanaugh is a clinical
member of the Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and a Diplomate in the
American Association of Pastoral Counselors. She is licensed to practice in New York State.
As Director of the Riverside Counseling Center, she provided
leadership in psychotherapy, spirituality, worship, teaching and consulting.
She consults widely in the area of grief, loss and trauma.
A collection of Dr. Kavanaugh’s public
pastoral prayers, For the Living of These
Days: Prayers for a Troubled World, has been published by Cascade
Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers.