Archives: Authors

Vikki Stark, MSW, is a Montreal-based psychotherapist, writer, and speaker. She's the director of the Sedona Counselling Centre and, as a result of her book, Runaway Husbands, leads a worldwide community of women recovering from an unexpected divorce.

Viktor Frankl, MD, was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist, best known for his 1946 “Man’s Search for Meaning,” an existential volume based upon his experiences as a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. His break from traditional psychoanalysis in favor of an existential/humanistic orientation led to the development of Logotherapy. Frankl, primarily a clinician, was also a prolific internationally recognized author, speaker and teacher who viewed freedom of will, will to meaning and meaning in life as psychological and spiritual cornerstones of being fully human. 

Vinodha Joly, LMFT is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Pleasanton, California. She specializes in working with adult survivors of childhood trauma, childhood emotional neglect and domestic violence. Before transitioning to her current vocation as a psychotherapist, Ms. Joly worked in research and software development at Silicon Valley high-tech companies and holds 14 patents in the field of computing. She received her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University in California, and her Masters degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Website: vinodhatherapy.com

Vinodha Joly, LMFT is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Pleasanton, California. She specializes in working with adult survivors of childhood trauma, childhood emotional neglect and domestic violence. Before transitioning to her current vocation as a psychotherapist, Ms. Joly worked in research and software development at Silicon Valley high-tech companies and holds 14 patents in the field of computing. She received her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University in California, and her Masters degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Learn more about Vinodha on her website.

Violet Oaklander, PhD is internationally renowned for her unique approach, incorporating Gestalt Therapy and expressive techniques with children and adolescents. She has received several awards, and authored numerous articles, as well as two books: the classic Windows to Our Children: A Gestalt Therapy Approach to Children and Adolescents and the recently released, Hidden Treasure: A Map to the Child's Inner Self.

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Virginia Satir is one of the key figures in the development of family therapy. She believed that a healthy family life involved an open and reciprocal sharing of affection, feelings, and love. Satir made enormous contributions to family therapy in her clinical practice and training. She began treating families in 1951 and established a training program for psychiatric residents at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute in 1955.

Satir served as the director of training at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto from 1959-66 and at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur beginning in 1966. In addition, Satir gave lectures and led workshops in experiential family therapy across the country. She was well-known for describing family roles, such as "the rescuer" or "the placator," that function to constrain relationships and interactions in families. She is also known for creating the Virginia Satir Change Process Model, a psychological model developed through clinical studies.

Satir's genuine warmth and caring was evident in her natural inclination to incorporate feelings and compassion in the therapeutic relationship. She believed that caring and acceptance were key elements in helping people face their fears and open up their hearts to others. Above all other therapists, Satir's was the most powerful voice to wholeheartedly support the importance of love and nurturance as being the most important healing aspects of therapy. Unfortunately, Satir's beliefs went against the more scientific approach to family therapy accepted at that time, and she shifted her efforts away from the field to travel and lecture. Satir died in 1988 after suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Her most well-known books are Conjoint Family Therapy, 1964, Peoplemaking, 1972, and The New Peoplemaking, 1988.

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Vivian Conan is a writer, librarian, and IT business analyst who lives in Manhattan. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, New York, Lilith (award-winning essay), Narratively, Cleaver, and Dorothy Parker’s Ashes. She received a 2007 fellowship in Nonfiction Literature from the New York Foundation for the Arts and a 2019 Simon Rockower Award from the American Jewish Press Association. Her memoir about healing from mental illness is Losing the Atmosphere. The audiobook was a finalist for the 2021 Independent Press Award and the 2021 Independent Audiobook Awards. Learn more at VivianConan.com. 

Wendy Iglehart, LCPC, is a psychotherapist, collaborative divorce coach, and writer with a private practice based in Baltimore, Maryland. She works with families in challenging transitions. For her work as a divorce coach, she was featured in The Washington Post, Baltimore Child Magazine, and as an expert guest on the radio for "The Audrey Chapman Show."