During her collegiate studies, Patricia Hanes Meyer was afforded the opportunity to witness the juvenile court system, which helped her understand her passion for working with youth. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Carroll College in 1969, she worked as the director of family therapy for the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court from 1970 to 1977, as well as a consultant for the Fairfax County Crossroads Drug Abuse Program from 1972 to 1974. During this time, she learned to leverage the Bowen Family Systems Theory in the juvenile justice system and received a Master of Social Work from The Catholic University of America in 1976.
Since earning her master’s degree and becoming a licensed clinical social worker, Ms. Meyer has served as a practitioner in mental health services and social work in her private practice in Herndon, Virginia, now located in North Carolina. She has always utilized the Bowen Family Systems Theory to establish assessments for her clients, which enabled them the opportunity to lead a more fulfilling life and recognize their own emotional and behavioral patterns. Alongside her primary practice, Ms. Meyer was a clinical instructor in the department of psychiatry at the Bowen Center for the Study of Family at Georgetown University Medical School from 1976 to 1984. Likewise, she was the principal investigator for “Education as a Vehicle for Therapeutic Change,” a research project through the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Lending her expertise to the written word, as well, Ms. Meyer has contributed her expertise to chapters in books and articles in medical journals. Authoring “The Importance of the Practice Environment” in 2005, she previously wrote “The Legal System and Divorce: Avoiding Chaos, Conflict and Loss of Self-Definition” in the Georgetown Medical Bulletin in 1979 and “Talking with Someone Else” and “Family System Therapy: A Path to Coping” in Marriage and Family Living in 1978, among other works. She also served as an advisory editor for The Family: A Journal of Family Systems, Theory and Practice from 1977 to 1984.
Looking ahead, Ms. Meyer looks forward to writing and reporting about the knowledge she has acquired during the decades of her work.