Dr. Barlow received his PhD from the University of Vermont in 1969 and has published over 500 articles and chapters and over 60 books and clinical manuals, mostly in the areas of anxiety and related emotional disorders, sexual problems, and clinical research methodology. He is formerly Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Brown University, and founded clinical psychology internships in both settings. He was also Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York and Director of the Phobia and Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University at Albany, SUNY.
He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Psychiatry at Boston University. He is also the Past-President of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, Past-President of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and was Chair of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Psychological Intervention Guidelines, as well as a member of the DSM-IV Task Force of the American Psychiatric Association.
Judith A. Rubin, a pioneer in the field of art therapy, is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. She is a Registered, Board-Certified Art Therapist and a Licensed Psychologist. Dr. Rubin is the author of several books, including: Child Art Therapy, The Art of Art Therapy, and Art Therapy: An Introduction. She was the “Art Lady” on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in the 1960s.
A past President and Honorary Life Member of the American Art Therapy Association, Dr. Rubin is retired from full-time clinical practice and continues to devote her energies to creating and disseminating films on the arts in therapy.
Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, and maintains an active consulting and coaching practice. He also directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition which provides online and onsite training internationally in grief therapy. Since completing his doctoral training at the University of Nebraska in 1982, he has conducted extensive research on the topics of death, grief, loss, and suicide intervention. He has received numerous awards for his scholarly and clinical contributions. Most recently, he has been granted Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Association for Death Education and Counseling and the International Network for Personal Meaning.
Neimeyer has published 35 books, including New Techniques of Grief Therapy: Bereavement and Beyond and The Handbook of Grief Therapies, the latter with Edith Steffen and Jane Milman. The author of over 600 articles and book chapters, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process, both in his published work and through his frequent professional workshops for national and international audiences. Please visit the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition website to learn more about live online training, pre-recorded online training and on-site training opportunities.
William R. Miller, PhD, the originator of Motivational Interviewing, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico and Director of Research for UNM’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse & Addictions. Dr. Miller has published more than 60 books and more than 4500 articles and chapters on the treatment of alcoholism and other addictive behaviors.
Fundamentally interested in the psychology of change, he has focused in particular on the development, testing, and dissemination of behavioral treatments for addictions. He maintains an active interest in pastoral counseling and the integration of spirituality and psychology. The Institute for Scientific Information lists him as one of the world’s most cited scientists.
Virginia Satir (1916-1988) 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.
Her most well-known books are Conjoint Family Therapy, 1964, Peoplemaking, 1972, and The New Peoplemaking, 1988.
Violet Oaklander, PhD (1927-2021) was internationally renowned for her unique approach, incorporating Gestalt Therapy and expressive techniques with children and adolescents. She 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 Hidden Treasure: A Map to the Child’s Inner Self. The Violet Soloman Oaklander Foundation was established to continue her work and training programs.
Victor Yalom, PhD is the founder of Psychotherapy.net producing more than 100 videos in his 30+ years there. He also maintained a busy private practice in San Francisco, conducted workshops in existential-humanistic and group therapy in the US, Mexico, and China, and lead consultation groups for therapists. Victor retired from Psychotherapy.net in 2025. Learn more about him and his artwork at sfpsychologist.com.
Travis Heath, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and has been in community practice for nearly two decades. His scholarship has included looking at shifting from a multicultural approach to counseling to one of cultural democracy that invites people to heal in mediums that are culturally near. Other writings have focused on the use of rap music in narrative therapy, working with persons entangled in the criminal injustice system in ways that maintain their dignity, narrative practice stories as pedagogy, and a co-created questioning practice called reunion questions. He is co-author, with David Epston and Tom Carlson, of the first book on Contemporary Narrative Therapy released in June 2022 entitled, Reimagining Narrative Therapy Through Practice Stories and Autoethnography. He has presented his work in 10 countries to date.
Dr. Susan Heitler is a clinical psychologist specializing in saving marriages. In her clinical practice as a marriage therapist in Denver, Colorado, Dr. Heitler has been helping individuals and couples for over 25 years. She also has written a book, a workbook, and led workshops called The Power of Two to help more couples learn the skills that lead to marital success. Dr. Heitler graduated from Harvard University, earned a masters degree in education at Boston University and then a doctorate in psychology from New York University. She and her husband, married over 30 years, have enjoyed raising four children, now young adults with children of their own. Dr. Heitler has lectured on her therapy methods nationwide and abroad, including in Spain, Austria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Australia. Dr. Heitler, a popular radio and television talk show guest, is frequently interviewed in magazines such as Fitness, Men’s Health, Women’s World, and Parenting. Her cases have appeared often in the Ladies Home Journal column “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” In May 2004, Dr. Heitler appeared on the CBS Early Show where anchor Harry Smith introduced her as “the most influential person in my life—my therapist.” He encouraged his viewers similarly to seek therapy when they are emotionally distressed and premarital counseling when they are contemplating marriage. You may learn more about Dr. Heitler and her work at TherapyHelp.com. Her recent publications include The Leader’s Manual for Power of Two Marriage Skills Workshops.
Dr. Sue Johnson (1947-2024) was one of the originators and the main proponent of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), now one of the best validated couples interventions in North America. She was Director of the Ottawa (Canada) Couple and Family Institute and the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Research Professor at Alliant University in San Diego, California.
She received numerous honors for her work, including the Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Couple and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the Research in Family Therapy Award from the American Family Therapy Academy. She was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
She received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1984. She is a registered psychologist in the province of Ontario, Canada, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy and the Journal of Family Psychology. She was a Research Professor in the Marital & Family Therapy Program at Alliant University in San Diego.
Her 2004 book (2nd Ed), The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy: Creating Connection (Brunner Rouledge) is a foundational text on EFT for couples. She was the senior editor of the 2003 book, Attachment Processes in Couples Therapy (Guilford Press), and the 1994 book, The Heart of the Matter (Guilford Press). She also wrote a book on trauma and couples, Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors (2002).