I am delighted to nominate my colleague and good friend, Julia B. Allen, LC.S.W., for the North Carolina Society for Clinical Social Work Award. I have known Judy since 1980, and she has been my partner in private practice for the past 11 years in our office with three gynecologists, Drs. Heaton, Fulghum, and Williams. We were in a Clinical Society marriage and family study group for a decade and on the Clinical Society program committee together for the past twenty years. Judy has has many outstanding professional accomplishments which include providing social work clinical services at Caswell Center in

1965, Dorothea Dix Hospital from 1961 to 1971, and Lee-Harnett Mental Health Center also in the 70's. She became the first director of Social Services at Holly Hill Hospital in Raleigh in 1978, and was oneof the first clinical social workers in private practice when she joined Raleigh Psychiatric Associates in 1979, where she practiced with several psychiatrists and fellow social worker, Dorothy "Doe" Ferrell. She ran many psychotherapy groups with Doe until leaving Raleigh Psychiatric in 1995. She has an individual, marital, and group therapy practice with adults; her special areas of treatment are depression, grief, phobias, infertility, and women's issues.

Judy received her bachelor's degree in sociology in 1961 from UNC Chapel Hill and her master's in social work from UNC Chapel Hill in 1973. She is a licensed family and marriage therapist and belongs to the Academy of Clinical Social Workers and the National Association of Social Workers.

Judy is a founding member of NCSCSW. She was a volunteer at the Community Mental Health Clinic in Wake County founded by Clarence Boyd, LC.S.W., volunteered and was a Board member of Planned Parenthood of the Capital and Coast, and is a frequent speaker for Compassionate Friends and church groups.

Few other social workers have practiced psychotherapy continuously for 45 years in our community. Judy Allen as always been a role model and mentor for me and many other clinicians. She is one of the most dedicated and compassionate advocates for people with with mental health issues; she is a warm, calm, and wise therapist and advisor to her patients, colleagues, many friends, her family, and community groups who benefit from her expertise. My hope is that she will continue to practice and be my partner for many years to come.