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Phyllis is one of the authors of the Adaptive Internal Relational (AIR) Network Model, a cutting edge therapy for complex trauma and neuro-dissociative states.   AIR Network foundational training has been offered to therapists since the fall of 2015, and over 500 professionals  across the United States, Canada, and the UK as well as Egypt and other MENA countries have been trained as of early 2024.​

Phyllis teaches and works from a Feminist Multicultural perspective that incorporates developmental neurology, is dignity and competency based, relationally oriented and deeply intersectional. She has worked in a variety of multidisciplinary and multicultural clinical settings serving the needs of children, adolescents and families. She is very knowledgeable about the neurology of attachment, development and trauma and the use of interpersonal neurobiology in conducting therapy across the life span. Organizational consultation around cultural awareness and practice in trauma informed and person centered systems of care has been a focus for over 20 years. Phyllis has consulted with a broad range of organizations including: schools and school districts, juvenile justice organizations, mental health facilities and religious organizations.

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Phyllis has been involved with developing mental health programming in small culturally specific agencies and has impacted the development of both clinical and training models in those places.  She was involved with the development of the Doctoral program in counseling psychology at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, where the faculty feel very strongly about teaching students within a mentorship model and have worked hard to develop a training program that is relationally grounded, culturally oriented and academically rigorous. Phyllis has consulted and trained professionals in the United States and abroad.

"I want my students and clients to grow into being completely and truly who they are meant to be in the world.  My agenda for students and clients is one of love and conviction.  I absolutely believe that each and every one of us has a purpose here in this world.  I believe that the highest good is to Love and honor and protect others, particularly children and those who cannot protect themselves.  I have learned over a long period of time that there is no such thing as self-sufficiency.  We are all intensely and intrinsically dependent on one another."