In the early 1970s I trained in facilitating encounter and psychodrama groups. I then directed a drug rehabilitation program, a crisis hotline and worked as a recreational therapist at a psychiatric hospital. After receiving my B.S. and M.S.W. degrees from Columbia University in 1979, I continued my personal and professional journey with the following training:
- Over 25 years of experience in Meditation, Guided Visualization Techniques, Dreams and Inner Child Work
- Over 10 years of training in Body Centered Gestalt Therapy with Stuart Alpert, ACSW, D.Psy., co-director of the Hartford Family Institute
- A three-year Jungian and five-year Freudian analyses during the 1980s
- Nine Years of Core Energetics and Pathwork Process training
- Graduate of the Satir Institute of the Southeast
- Certified Grief Counselor and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Facilitator
- Advanced training in Developmental Needs Meeting Strategies
- Two years of training in couples, family and group psychotherapy at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services Institute in New York City
- Volunteer work includes 4 years of facilitating an Aids psychotherapy group; leading grief support groups as well as groups for teenagers, drug and alcohol abusers, and victims of sexual abuse
I have led many workshops and training groups for therapists and other helping professionals in addition to numerous public speaking engagements. I stay involved with the psychotherapy community through my memberships in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the Carolinas Group Psychotherapy Society (CGPS), and the American Academy of Psychotherapists (AAP). I am also a member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.
On a more personal note I was born and raised in New York City and the dysfunctionality in my family led me to some serious acting-out behavior as a teenager and young adult. When I had reached an intolerable level of misery I sought out psychological as well as spiritual answers to make sense of my life. Fortunately, I found both. After being in personal therapy for a number of years I decided I wanted to help other people more than any other career calling and so I went back to school to become a therapist and the rest is history.
My wife and I moved to Chapel Hill in 1999 and we both love our lives here as do our three cats: two young Russian Blues and our 12 year old Abyssinian. I have a son and two grandchildren as well as two step sons and life is about as rich as it has ever been. My wife and I go on spiritual retreat 2 to 3 times a year.