Qualifications
I am a licensed, board certified clinical psychologist and Director of Clinical Training & Full Professor at Adler University - Chicago; Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine; Coordinator for the UIC Program in Religion, Spirituality & Mental Health, and an adjunct faculty member at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. In 2015 I earned a postgraduate certificate in psychoanalytic psychotherapy from the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis.
From 2011 thru 2022 I was the Training Director for Hartgrove Hospital's Inpatient Unit for the therapy/advanced training program, where I supervised and mentored masters and doctoral students as they completed their year-long intermediate or advanced therapy training experiences.
I have also been serving on the Ethics Committee for the Illinois Psychological Association since 2016.
Community engagement by serving in positions of consultation and leadership figures prominently in my life. I am honored to currently serve on the board of directors for Akiba Schecter Jewish Day School as well as the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago (ATT). I also serve as Vice President of Nefesh-Chicago, and formally served on the executive board of ACEPT - the Association of Chicagoland Externship and Practicum Training.
I also provide expert clinical consultation in an evaluatory capacity in both civil and criminal legal cases.
With regards to my scholarship and research activities, I have published numerous refereed journal articles, book chapters, as well as co-authored a book on suicide prevention and positive psychology. Topics of some of my other scholarly publications include the theoretical foundations of modern psychiatry, the psychology of religious conversion, death anxiety, cross cultural concepts of femininity, the psychodynamics of music, the historical uniqueness of baseball, the connection between misogyny and Antisemitism, suicide prevention, the ethical and ramifications of the anti-aging movement, and most recently on the existential considerations in the rise in popularity of dystopian myths, particularly zombie media.
A comprehensive summary of my academic and professional activities and experience can be found on my LinkedIn profile by clicking
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Biography
Approach to therapy
The work that I typically do with my patients is called Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Therapy, accented with existentialist considerations and approaches. Traditional psychodynamic therapists focus on helping the patient develop insights into their motivations, character structure, and interpersonal style of relating to others. When patients develop insight, they gain a greater understanding of their problems and the reasons why they behave, think, and feel the way they do. Contemporary psychodynamic therapists, like myself, maintain that gaining insight into one's problems is only one important piece of this project. For instance, the work I do with my patients often places equal emphasis on emotional expression and human relatedness.
Psychoanalytic therapists concentrate on the inner meaning of one's experience, which is different from other types of treatments that focus more singularly on symptom reduction or symptom suppression. I believe what makes psychoanalytic therapy superior to other therapies is that it offers a robust explanatory framework to understand and help those experiencing many forms of emotional distress, from mild to severe. Notably, this approach also acknowledges the importance of relational dynamics - both between the patient and the significant people in their lives, but also between the patient and the therapist.
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