Mary Jo Rapini grew up on the frozen tundra of Wisconsin as number six of nine children.  She survived life in the small town of Bancroft to pursue an initial career as a licensed vocational nurse at Marshfield Clinic and the University of Iowa.  Later she obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Denver, where she received the Hornsbeck Scholarship Award.  Later she graduated with a master’s degree (M.Ed.) in counseling from the University of Houston in 1987, and is a now a Licensed Professional Counselor (L.P.C.). 

Her experiences in psychotherapy have been diverse.  Mary Jo has been a counselor at Houston Child Guidance Center and for the Child Resource and Information Service (CRIS).  After ten years in Houston, she lived in Lubbock, Texas for nine years, where she volunteered for Contact Lubbock, training volunteers and monitoring a crisis line.  In Lubbock she was active in oncology counseling, ran several cancer support groups and consulted at the University Medical Center in Lubbock.  

Later she moved back to Houston where she has maintained a private practice.  She is also consultant for patients of several physicians performing obesity surgery and offers Intimacy/Sex therapy for the Restorative Pelvic Center at Methodist and private practice Intimacy/Sex counseling.  Mary Jo is a part-time employee of the Methodist Weight Management Center. 
  
Mary Jo is happily married and the proud mother of two daughters.  In her free time she is a passionate runner of 50- and 100-mile ultra marathons including the Grand Canyon and Boston Marathon.  She has had multiple pieces published and is the author of Is God Pink: Dying to Heal. She is also co-author of a new book, Talk at the Table, due out January 2008.