Archives: Experts

Scott Miller, PhD is co-founder of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, a private group of clinicians and researchers dedicated to studying “what works” in mental health and substance abuse treatment. Dr. Miller conducts workshops and training, and speaks at conferences worldwide. He is the author of numerous articles and co-author of The Heart and Soul of Change: What Works in Therapy, The Heroic Client: A Revolutionary Way to Improve Effectiveness through Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed Therapy, and What Works in Drug and Alcohol Treatment.

Steven C. Hayes is Nevada Foundation Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. He is the founder of the ACT model, and author of 47 books and nearly 700 scientific articles. Hayes has received numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to the field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

Dr. Sam Steen, a Professor and licensed Professional School Counselor, specializes in group work and cultivating Black students’ academic identity development. Dr. Steen was a school counselor for 10 years and these practitioner experiences shape his research agenda, approach to teaching, and service. Dr. Steen is a Fellow for the Association for Specialists in Group Work, a division of the American Counseling Association. Recently, Dr. Steen received the Al Dye Research Award and the Professional Advancement Award both from ASGW recognizing his outstanding efforts advancing the field of group work through research and development of new and innovative strategies for schools, families, and marginalized communities.

Salvador Minuchin (1921-2017), MD, is a world-renowned founder of family therapy and the developer of Structural Family Therapy. Born and raised in Argentina, he obtained his degree in medicine and served as physician in the Israeli army before training in child psychiatry in New York with Nathan Ackerman. Later, he trained in psychoanalysis at the William Alanson White Institute. In 1965 Minuchin became the director of the Child Guidance Clinic in Philadelphia. He stepped down from this position in 1976 to become the head of training at the center until 1981, when he left Philadelphia to practice and teach child psychiatry in New York. Named one of the ten most influential therapists of the past quarter-century, he authored several books, including his classic family therapy text, Families and Family Therapy. Minuchin retired in 1996.

Rollo May, PhD (1909-1994) is the father of Existential Psychotherapy in the United States and inspired Yalom, Bugental and countless others through his teachings and books. He edited the first book in the field in 1958, Existence, and authored the seminal books Love and Will and The Meaning of Anxiety. He is a legendary teacher, scholar and psychotherapist.

After a brief stint at Michigan State (he was asked to leave because of his involvement with a radical student magazine), May attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where he received his bachelors degree. After graduation, he went to Greece, where he taught English at Anatolia College for three years. During this period, he also spent time as an itinerant artist and even studied briefly with Alfred Adler. When he returned to the US, he entered Union Theological Seminary and became friends with one of his teachers, Paul Tillich, the existentialist theologian, who would have a profound effect on his thinking. May received his BD in 1938.

May suffered from tuberculosis, and had to spend three years in a sanatorium. This was probably the turning point of his life. While he faced the possibility of death, he also filled his empty hours with reading. Among the literature he read were the writings of Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish religious writer who inspired much of the existential movement, and provided the inspiration for May’s theory.

He went on to study psychoanalysis at White Institute, where he met people such as Harry Stack Sullivan and Erich Fromm. At Columbia University in New York, May received the first PhD in clinical psychology that institution ever awarded in 1949. From 1955–1975, May taught at the New School for Social Research, and in 1975 he relocated to California. He is well known for many of his books, including Man’s Search for Himself, Love and Will, The Meaning of Anxiety, and The Courage to Create.

Richard Schwartz, PhD, developed the Internal Family Systems Therapy model. He is Associate Professor at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is also the author of Internal Family Systems Therapy, and co-author of the widely read textbook, Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods.

R. Reid Wilson, PhD is a licensed psychologist who directs the Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina. He is also Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Wilson specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders and is the author of Don’t Panic: Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks (Harper Perennial, 1996), Facing Panic: Self-Help for People with Panic Attacks (Anxiety Disorders Association of America, 2003), and is co-author with Edna Foa of Stop Obsessing! How to Overcome Your Obsessions and Compulsions (Bantam, 2001). Wilson served on the Board of Directors of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America for twelve years and was Program Chair of the National Conferences on Anxiety Disorders from 1988-1991. In 2014 The Anxiety and Depression Association of America honored Wilson for a lifetime of service in treating anxiety disorders, awarding him the Jerilyn Ross Clinician Advocate Award at its annual conference in Chicago.

Rebecca Jorgensen, PhD is Founder and Director of the Attachment Advancement Institute and Co-Director of The Training and Research Institute for Emotionally Focused Therapy. She is an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Supervisor and Trainer. Her focus is on promoting effective attachment for healthy relationships through virtual and in-person educational conferences and workshops as well as training and providing consultation on effective treatment of relational distress. She has developed several streaming conferences and seminars and has hosted and/or co-presented with attachment theorists and researchers such as Sue Johnson, Phil Shaver and Jim Coan. She continues to work to develop effective methods and platforms to transfer science-based treatments to clinicians and those who will utilize prevention services.

As a recognized expert on couple therapy couples and therapists travel to work with Dr. Jorgensen at Couple Workshops, Intensive Couples Therapy, Professional Trainings and Consultation. Her online educational programs and consultation groups are popular all around the globe. This “therapists’ therapist” is known for her presence, clarity and empathy. Dr. Jorgensen lives in Mexico where she maintains a small private practice.

Peter A. Levine, PhD, is the developer of Somatic Experiencing© and founder of the Foundation for Human Enrichment. He teaches trainings in this work throughout the world and in various indigenous cultures. Levine is the author of the best-selling book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences and he co-published a comprehensive book on childhood trauma, Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes: Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing as well as a guide for parents, Trauma-Proofing Your Kids: A Parents’ Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience. He is the recipient of the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award from the the US Association of Body Psychotherapy.

Otto Kernberg, MD is the Director of the Personality Disorder Institute at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Westchester Division, and Professor of Psychiatry at the Joan and Sandford I. Weill Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University. He is also Training and Supervising Analyst of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research and is the Past-President of the International Psychoanalytic Association. He has received numerous awards for his excellence in Psychiatry and has authored or coauthored over twenty books.