I’m a native Chicagoan who lived in Gary, Indiana for thirteen years before moving to New Hampshire with my wife, Hana. I entered the field of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) after a 21-year career in newspaper and magazine journalism which began in 1971 at the Chicago Sun-Times. I received my Master’s Degree training in MFT at Purdue Calumet University, Hammond and my Doctoral training at Purdue University, West Lafayette. I’ve practiced Aikido (a martial art) for more than 30 years, as well as Hatha Yoga and Yoga meditation, which I taught for several years in the Chicago area. Songwriting and playing guitar, cooking and writing (fiction and essays) are among my favorite hobbies. Both my wife and I are licensed MFTs and AAMFT Clinical Members. I am also an AAMFT approved supervisor.
Teaching at Antioch
Antioch has a long history of devotion to principles of social justice, and social responsibility (as demonstrated by the school’s focus on environmental issues long before such issues began to be addressed by larger, more conventional Universities). Thus, I expected that it would attract the types of faculty and students with whom I would enjoy interacting.
Further, I looked forward to helping develop a PhD program in MFT at Antioch because I knew that a large number of Antioch’s MFT students are adult learners.” As one who entered the field in mid-life as an adult learner, I felt I would understand the challenges that many such students would face in trying to carve out a new career for themselves in this exciting, but extremely demanding profession.
Views on Social Justice Issues
I tend to view social justice issues, multicultural issues and feminist issues through the same lens. They are all founded in a sense of fairness, balance and connectedness with all our brothers and sisters on this planet. They all require the willingness and courage to sometimes be a voice in the wilderness. I come by this attitude naturally from having experienced discrimination; from having been an avid follower of Dr. King’s non-violent movement; from long ago having a developed a sensitivity to what Michael White would call subjugated stories and the ways (sometimes subtle, sometimes horrendously blatant) white male power and privilege have affected my life and the lives of millions of other people who are neither white, nor male, nor heterosexual. As a racial minority in a field (MFT) historically and currently dominated by middle-class whites I hope, even if in a small way, to push our field toward greater inclusiveness and a sense of ethical obligation to address and correct the social inequalities we see around us in America today.
- PhD, Purdue University
- MS, Purdue Calumet University
I probably have more areas of research interest than I’ll ever be able to explore in my lifetime, but two particular areas have always been at the top of my to do list. One is to investigate the problems men and their families face when the man returns home after a long absence, either as the result of military service or incarceration. My hope is to generate funding to conduct studies in this area that will, ideally, lead to development of a model of reunification therapy (for men and eventually for women) that can be adapted to various ethnic and economic populations. The second area of interest is the development of a model of Common Factors supervision. This is different than most prevailing supervision procedures, which train supervisees strictly in accordance with the style of therapy the supervisee is doing. The Common Factors approach to supervision is not model-based, but rather based on certain basic principles that inform all successful therapies, regardless of the model practiced.
Clinical Experience
Before entering my doctoral training I spent nearly two years as a therapist for an Employee Assistance Program, and a significant portion of my cases involved either substance abuse or domestic violence. For the next five years I worked as a senior therapist at a residential treatment facility for adolescent males, most of whom were diagnosed with oppositional-defiant disorder or conduct disorder. During that time I also developed and was director of the facility’s adolescent substance abuse treatment program. The models of therapy I most frequently drew upon during those years were Structural Family Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral therapy. I have had a wide variety of clients of various racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds, as well as gay, lesbian and transgendered clients. I’ve also seen more clients with obsessions and phobias than I would have expected when I entered the field.