About
As a psychotherapist and clinical social worker, Christine Wolf, MSW, LICSW has studied the long-term effects of violence and trauma on individuals and families. She has learned not only from her academic and professional experiences, but from her own background as a child of World War II refugees and as the mother of a homicide victim.
Born in Germany in 1945, Christine immigrated with her parents to Venezuela where she and her two brothers grew up in the City of Maracaibo. She came to the United States in 1966, as a young woman intent on mastering the English language.
Attending the University of Massachusetts, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Latin American Studies while tutoring foreign students—many of them refugees from Chile. In 1984, she received her master’s degree from Smith College School for Social Work.
Christine has done extensive professional work in the area of trauma, presenting papers on the subject in the U.S. and China, leading seminars for psychology and social work interns, and acting as clinical supervisor to master’s level student interns attending Smith College and Simmons College School of Social Work.
Her book, Speak for Me, Mom: A Murder, A Trial, and a Mother's Enduring Love, was born out of deep grief following the 1989 murder of her 19-year-old son, Andreas Dresp. The basis for the book was formed as Christine began writing letters to her son in the immediate aftermath of his death as she faced a drastically altered future without him. Throughout the intense police investigation and emotionally-charged murder trial, Andreas's absence was a constant reminder of his suffering and a never-ending source of pain for Christine. With unflinching honesty, her account reveals what parents, family and friends of homicide victims experience in the wake of violent crime.