Article archive / January 1, 2010
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 5. Source pages: 11.
Dr. Roberta Alysoun Bell Laventhal, a clinical and neuropsychologist in Metairie, focuses her busy practice on patients of all ages, helping them with their cognitive, emotional or physical diagnoses. Psychological and neuropsychological assessment makes up a large part of her services, and she is supported in efforts by her part-time psychometrists and office managers.
Her professional duties also include her position on the editorial staff of Rehab-in-Review: The Surveillance Journal for Rehabilitation Professionals, a publication from the medical schools of Harvard, LSU and Emory University. Roberta assists in collapsing technical articles from 70 distinguished journals into a concise, readable and efficient format for busy clinicians. She said to PT, “With Rehab-in- Review, I've been copy editing since its onset in 1993. I see my role in the journal as helping make the words ‘sing,’” a contribution that is apparent in this interesting and immensely readable journal. Rehab is part of Roberta’s adjunct assistant professor role at Emory. There, she is also available for other duties, such as being a guest lecturer or helping with research.
But there is another side to Dr. Bell. She not only has an alias, as in nom de plume, but I believe she might also have an alter ego, so creative are her activities when she is not assisting others professionally. Over the years, she has worked as a public relations coordinator, licensed private investigator, “terrified” flight student and volunteer radio announcer.
Currently, she writes with a group of creative women that, once you learn about them, gives you the feeling that others are having a lot more fun in their lives than you are having in yours, causing you to wonder why someone didn’t send you an invitation.
Roberta is a member of “Six Southern Gals,” who have combined their creative and literary talents to produce a “serendipitous collection of holiday stories,” called Open Before Christmas: Holiday Tales from Six Southern Gals. The authors draw on their childhood experiences, blending and expanding the stories with imagination and originality. Roberta writes under her pen name, Alysoun Alysoun– a doubling up of her middle name. She joins her efforts with her creative co-authors, two freelance writers, a retired speech/language pathologist, and a writer/artist/poet.
Website: “Six Southern Women or Gals,” as we like to refer to ourselves, have found a connection with the Christmas stories and poems that have been portrayed in this book. During our evolution, we also found we had another connection . . . FOOD!…” … Roberta has completed one novel, a murder mystery titled Rain, which she is reworking. She wrote it right after Katrina in the popular writers contest named NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). “That fun program requires only that the writer complete a novel of 50,000 or more words within the month of November…” But she found that writing that fast didn’t help her plot and felt some parts were in a “mess.” So, when she has some rare extra moments, she’s reworking it into a new mystery.
Dr. Roberta (Alysoun Alysoun) Bell Laventhal lives in Metarie with her husband, Nahum, step-son, Dylan, and cat, Whispurr.
Open Before Christmas is just as good if you open it after Christmas. Either way, don’t miss it. Available at www.sixsoutherngals.com.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.