Cinzia Garvin, LCSW, MPH

Bio

I am originally from Detroit, Michigan. My parents were born in a small town in Italy just outside of Naples and moved to Detroit a year before I was born. Italian is my first language, but alas, the accent I am left with is a Midwestern one! I lived in the Detroit area until 1997 when I finished my graduate degrees and promptly moved to the more temperate California climate.

I attended the University of Michigan for both undergraduate and graduate studies. I completed my degrees in 1996 and graduated with a BA in Social Science, a Master's Degree in Social Work and a Master's Degree in Public Health. I focused my studies on Health Behavior and Health Education as well as Interpersonal Therapeutic Practice with Individuals. Having a degree in both Social Work and Public Health has given me a unique perspective in terms of health care. I have developed skills and interests in treating both individuals and populations. I am especially interested in how people learn and assimilate health information.

My Medical Specialty

More details about my specialty:

I have a Master's Degree in Public Health and a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan. I received my license from the California Board of Behavioral Sciences in 2003.

My career focus has always been on Health Behavior and Health Education, and how thoughts, emotions and stress affect health and well-being.

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

I joined Kaiser Permanente in March of 1998. I work in the Chronic Pain Department as a Care Manager. Working in Chronic Pain offers a very interesting mix of traditional and non-traditional medicine. Our approach to pain management is multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary. As a Care Manager and Psychotherapist, I am especially interested in the mind-body connection and how thoughts, emotions and behaviors affect one's experience of pain.

Working as a Care Manager affords me the opportunity to meet with people individually as well as teaching pain management classes. It is a wonderful reminder to me to practice self-care strategies in my own life.

Great health resources that I refer to:

A wonderful health resource that I use very frequently is the Kaiser Permanente Choose Healthy Program. This is a program that offers discounts and preferred rates on chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy, fitness club memberships, health tools and health products.

For more information, check out the website at www.choosehealthy.com

Interests

Currently reading:
The Year of Magical Thinking

My favorite book or author:
John Irving

Great movie:
Best In Show

Hobby Photos & Links:

Symptomatics

Band website

Family & Friends

People in my life:

I live with my husband and our two dogs--Bo and Mick--in an old Craftsman Bungalow that we are slowly restoring.

We have two dogs: a Bichon Frise named Bo and our newest addition--a Chow Chow puppy named Mick.

You may notice that Mick's photo is conspicuously absent. That's because I can't get him to sit still long enough to actually take a picture. As of now, I have several pictures of a black blur and several pictures of half of his face. Stay tuned...photos to come...

Pet Photos:

Puppy Bo

Travel

An adventure I've had:

The most exciting travel adventure I've had was doing the Alaska AIDS ride in 2001. This was a 500-mile bike ride from Fairbanks to Anchorage over the course of six days. This was the greatest and most rewarding physical challenge I have ever put my body through. It was a wonderful way to see the beautiful state of Alaska, and I'm proud that I was able to ride every last mile!