Trudi is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Kentucky and a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) in Ohio. She earned her Bachelors of Social Work at the University of Akron and her Masters of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. Over the course of her career, she has worked in nursing homes, a senior citizens center, the Veterans Administration, community mental health centers, homecare, and hospitals. She has particular expertise in geriatric mental health. In the 1980s, Trudi lived and worked first, in Lexington, and later in Louisville, Kentucky. As an information and referral counselor, Trudi got to know the area nursing home ombudsman, and became aware of the gaps in mental health services for seniors, who were sometimes labeled as senile and placed prematurely in nursing homes by well-meaning relatives. Later, in Louisville, Trudi became part of the Geriatrics Unit of Seven Counties Services. During the 1990s, Trudi lived in the Southwest Ohio area near Cincinnati, supervising a social work home care unit and later providing consultant services to nursing homes. For the past decade, Trudi has lived with her educator husband in Morehead, Kentucky, where she has worked primarily as a mental health counselor. In what spare time she can find, Trudi enjoys gardening and is an accomplished watercolorist.