Yountville victim Jennifer Golick helped 'countless families heal'

YOUNTVILLE, Calif. -- Boys used to line up outside therapist Jennifer Golick's office door at the Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services center in Petaluma, waiting for her to arrive in the morning.

Scott Sowle, founder and executive director of the treatment center, said Golick was ``one of the brightest I've known, always with a big, warm smile and just the right words to say.''

Golick, 42, was one of three women killed Friday at the Pathway Home in Yountville by an Army veteran who had been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder there. She was still new to the center -- she joined as the clinical director in September.

She spent the previous five years at Muir Wood, a residential care program that treats troubled boys.

``Jennifer helped countless families heal. I've heard from many of them today,'' Sowle said Saturday. ``Many of our alumni boys and families have reached out to me to convey how she changed their lives and restored their family system.''

She helped her colleagues at Muir Wood, Sowle said. He said another therapist had told him, ``Jennifer changed me fundamentally at my core. She pushed me to be a better human being, trust my instincts, and make mistakes into teachable moments. She loved all of us and helped us be better versions of ourselves.''

Patricia Pike-Corkum, an addiction specialist, said, ``You meet a lot of different people in this field that want to help others, but there are certain people who just have that special quality, and Jen was one of them.''

One of her close friends, Dina Enberg, said Golick loved listening to Tupac Shakur, attending Giants games with her 8-year-old daughter, and, recently, running Tough Mudders -- multi-mile races that sprinkle obstacles around muddy courses.

``She was never really a runner, and then she did one with one of our friends, and she got really into it and she started setting goals and she would just slay them,'' Enberg said.

Golick volunteered regularly for community coalitions on addiction, Enberg said. The two of them traveled around the country giving educational presentations on cannabis at schools, clinics and conferences.

``She was an absolutely brilliant clinician and speaker,'' Enberg said. ``She was a solid and beautiful soul.''

Friends and family gathered Saturday at Golick's St. Helena home, where she lived with her husband and daughter. One family friend called her ``a strong person. ... She could figure people out really quick.''

Golick's father-in-law, Bob Golick, told the Associated Press that she had expelled the Yountville killer, 36-year-old Army veteran Albert Wong, from the Pathway Home PTSD program a few days ago.

He didn't give a reason, but the Golick family friend said it was because ``he was violent.''

Anna Schram, a neighbor, has a son the same age as Golick's daughter. She had to find the words to explain to the boy what had happened to his classmate's mother.

``The man who committed this -- he was also suffering and was sick,'' she told him. Golick ``was doing very dangerous work in some ways. She was also helping him.''