Faculty

John Gottman, PhD, was voted one of the Top 10 Most Influential Therapists of the past quarter century by the Psychotherapy Networker. He is a Professor Emeritus in Psychology at the University of Washington and known for his work on marital stability and relationship analysis. He has authored or co-authored of over 200 published academic articles and more than 45 books, including the bestselling The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work; What Makes Love Last; The Relationship Cure; Why Marriages Succeed or Fail; The Science of Trust; Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child; The Mathematics of Marriage; The Science of Couples and Family Therapy; and Principia Amoris. He is the co-founder of The Gottman Institute and Affective Software, Inc. which has created the Gottman Love Lab Relationship Assessment combined with Gottman Relationship Builder technology to assist  couples therapy and offer relationship building services directly to couples.

Julie Gottman, PhD, is the Co-Founder of The Gottman Institute and Affective Software, Inc.  A highly respected clinical psychologist, she has authored or co-authored 8 books and over two dozen peer-reviewed papers. She has appeared in media worldwide as an expert adviser on issues involving marriage, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, sexual harassment and rape, domestic violence, parenting, and cancer treatment. She is the co-creator of Gottman Method Couples Therapy (GMCT), the immensely popular Art and Science of Love workshop for couples, and the GMCT international clinical training program.

The Gottmans received the 2021 Psychotherapy Networker Lifetime Achievement Award for their decades of work revolutionizing couples therapy.

Dr. Grandin is a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Facilities she has designed are located in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. In North America, almost half of the cattle are handled in a center track restrainer system that she designed for meat plants. Curved chute and race systems she has designed for cattle are used worldwide and her writings on the flight zone and other principles of grazing animal behavior have helped many people to reduce stress on their animals during handling.

She has also developed an objective scoring system for assessing handling of cattle and pigs at meat plants. This scoring system is being used by many large corporations to improve animal welfare. Other areas of research are: cattle temperament, environmental enrichment for pigs, reducing dark cutters and bruises, bull fertility, training procedures, horse perception of novel objects, and effective stunning methods for cattle and pigs at meat plants.

She obtained her B.A. at Franklin Pierce College and her M.S. in Animal Science at Arizona State University. Dr. Grandin received her Ph.D in Animal Science from the University of Illinois in 1989. Today she teaches courses on livestock behaviour and facility design at Colorado State University and consults with the livestock industry on facility design, livestock handling, and animal welfare. She has appeared on television shows such as 20/20, 48 Hours, CNN Larry King Live, PrimeTime Live, 60 Minutes, the Today Show, and many shows in other countries. She has been featured in People Magazine, the New York Times, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Time Magazine, the New York Times book review, and Discover magazine. In 2010, Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people. Interviews with Dr. Grandin have been broadcast on National Public Radio and she has a 2010 TED Lecture titled "The World Needs ALL Kinds of Minds." She has also authored over 400 articles in both scientific journals and livestock periodicals on animal handling, welfare, and facility design. She is the author of "Thinking in Pictures", "Livestock Handling and Transport," "Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals," "Guide to Working with Farm Animals," and "Humane Livestock Handling." Her books "Animals in Translation" and "Animals Make Us Human" were both on the New York Times best seller list. "Animals Make Us Human" was also on the Canadian best seller list. Her latest book, Calling All Minds, was a New York Times best seller for middle school students. Her life story has also been made into an HBO movie titled "Temple Grandin, staring Claire Danes," which won seven Emmy awards and a Golden Globe. The movie shows her life as a teenager and how she started her career. In 2017, she was inducted into The Women's Hall of Fame and in 2018 made a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was named as one of the top 10 Best College Professors in 2020 by CEO Magazine. In 2022 she was awarded with the University Distinguished Professor degree at Colorado State University.

This web page was put up to educate people throughout the world about modern methods of livestock handling which will improve animal welfare and productivity. You have permission to copy articles, pictures, and diagrams. Please acknowledge Temple Grandin.

Rob Kapilow has brought the joy and wonder of classical music – and unraveled some of its mysteries – to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Characterized by his unique ability to create an “aha” moment for his audiences and collaborators, whatever their level of musical sophistication or naiveté, Kapilow’s work brings music into people’s lives: opening new ears to musical experiences and helping people to listen actively rather than just hear. As the Boston Globe said, “It’s a cheering thought that this kind of missionary enterprise did not pass from this earth with Leonard Bernstein. Rob Kapilow is awfully good at what he does. We need him.” Kapilow’s range of activi- ties is astonishingly broad, including his What Makes It Great? ® presentations (now for over fifteen seasons in New York and Boston), his family compositions and Family Musik® events, his “Citypieces”, and residencies with institutions as diverse as the National Gallery of Canada and Stanford University. The reach of his interactive events and activities is wide, both geographically and culturally: from Native American tribal communities in Montana and inner-city high school students in Louisiana to audiences in Kyoto and Kuala Lumpur, and from tots barely out of diapers to musicologists in Ivy League programs, his audiences are diverse and unexpected, but invariably rapt and keen to come back for more. Rob Kapilow is constantly finding connections and intersections between music and the outside world, making art essential to everyday life.

Otto F. Kernberg, MD, FAPA, is director of the Personality Disorders Institute at The New York Presbyterian Hospital, Westchester Division and professor of psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Kernberg is a past president of the International Psychoanalytic Association. He is also training and supervising analyst of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. His latest books are: The Inseparable Nature of Love and Aggression, American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC, 2011; Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder, A Clinical Guide, (with Frank E. Yeomans and John F. Clarkin), American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC, 2015; and Psychoanalytic Education at the Crossroads, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.

Cloé Madanes, HDL, LIC, in Psychology, is a world-renowned innovator and teacher of family and strategic therapy and one of the originators of the strategic approach to family therapy. She has authored nine books that are classics in the field: Strategic Family Therapy; Behind the One-Way Mirror; Sex, Love, and Violence; The Secret Meaning of Money; The Violence of Men; The Therapist as Humanist, Social Activist and Systemic Thinker; Relationship Breakthrough; Changing Relationships; and Not By Accident.  She has presented her work at professional conferences all over the world and has given keynote addresses for The Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy; the National Association of Social Workers, The Erickson Foundation, the California Psychological Association and many other national and international conferences. Madanes has won several awards for distinguished contribution to psychology and has counseled out- standing individuals from all walks of life.

Christina Maslach, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology (Emerita) and a researcher at the Healthy Workplaces Center at the University of California, Berkeley.  She received her A.B. from Harvard-Radcliffe College and her Ph.D. from Stanford University.  She is best known as the pioneering researcher on job burnout, producing the standard assessment tool (the Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI), journal articles, and books, including The Burnout Challenge in 2022.  She has received numerous awards for her work, including both academic (the 2020 award for scientific writing from the National Academy of Sciences) and public (named in 2021 as one of the top 100 people transforming business, by Business Insider).

She is an outstanding award-winning teacher, and was Professor of the Year in 1997.  As an administrator, she was Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Instructional Technology, and the Chair of the faculty Academic Senate (twice) at UC-Berkeley.  She has also served twice as the president of the Western Psychological Association, most recently when it celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020.  
 

Donald Meichenbaum, PhD in Clinical Psychology, is currently research director of Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention, Miami (www.melissainstitute.org). He is one of the founders of cognitive behavior therapy. He was voted one of the most influential psychotherapists of the 20th century. Latest books include Roadmap to Resilience (www.roadmaptoresilience.com) and Evolution of Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A Personal and Professional Journey.

Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD (in Psychology), is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he focuses on positive psychology, learned helplessness, depression, and optimism. He is a best-selling author of several books, including Flourish. He received the American Psychological Society’s William James Fellow Award for basic science and Cattell Award for the application of science, and two Distinguished Scientific Contribution awards from the American Psychological Association. In 1996, Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association by the largest vote in modern history. His current mission is the attempt to transform social science to work on the best things in life—strengths, positive emotion, good relationships, meaning, and human flourishing. He was named by Academic Influence as the most influential living psychologist in the world.

Dr. Siegel has published extensively for both professional and lay audiences. His five New York Times bestsellers are: Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, and two books with Tina Payne Bryson, PhD: The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline. His other books include: IntraConnected, The Developing Mind, The Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindsight, The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Therapist, and Becoming Aware. He has also written The Yes Brain and The Power of Showing Up with Tina Payne Bryson, PhD. Dr. Siegel also serves as the founding editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology, which currently contains more than 80 textbooks. For more information on Dr. Siegel's newest book, visit: wwnorton.com/intraconnected.

David Whyte is an internationally renowned poet and author, and a scintillating and moving speaker. Behind these talents lies a very physical attempt to give voice to the wellsprings of human identity, human striving and, most difficult of all, the possibilities for human happiness.

His talks, to audiences of all persuasions, on everything from literature to leadership, heartbreak to healing; mindfulness to mythology, weave poetry, story and commentary into a moving, almost physical experience of the themes that run through every human life: joy and loss, vulnerability and vitality, courage and despair, beauty and necessary heartbreak. He draws from hundreds of memorized poems, his own and those of other beloved poets such as Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Keats, Pablo Neruda, Fleur Adcock and the sonnets of Shakespeare. 

He is the author of ten books of poetry, three books of prose on the transformative nature of work, a widely-acclaimed book of essays, and an extensive audio collection.

Jeffrey K. Zeig, PhD, is the founder and director of the Milton H. Erickson Foundation. He has edited, co-edited, authored or co-authored more than 20 books on psychotherapy that appear in 14 foreign languages. Dr. Zeig is the architect of the Evolution of Psychotherapy Conferences, the Brief Therapy Conferences, the Couples Conferences, and the International Congresses on Ericksonian Approaches to Hypnosis and Psychotherapy. A psychologist and marriage and family therapist in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. Zeig conducts workshops internationally (40 countries). He is president of Zeig, Tucker & Theisen, Inc., publishers in the behavioral sciences.

Daniel Amen, MD, is a double board-certified psychiatrist, 12 time NY Times bestselling author, founder of Amen Clinics and brain imaging pioneer. He has written and hosted 17 public television specials about the brain. Discover Magazine named his brain imaging research as one of the top 100 stories in Science for 2015.

Dr. Ellyn Bader is one of the early founders of “couples therapy,” as well as a recognized thought leader and trailblazer in relationship therapy worldwide. Acting on years of exploration and therapy sessions, she discovered that bringing the couple together in sessions was far more effective than working with each partner individually.

Through her informal research and thousands of sessions, Ellyn co-created “The Developmental Model,” a revolutionary approach that is highly adaptable to the complex needs of two people growing, changing, and staying connected in a relationship. The model has deeply influenced the therapeutic world and is currently used in 57 countries. It is taught by many graduate programs using her award-winning textbook In Quest of the Mythical Mate, which has been reprinted over 20 times.

Ellyn co-founded The Couples Institute® (1984) and co-authored Tell Me No Lies (2001) with her husband Dr. Peter Pearson, and the two have been a frequently trusted resource by TV, radio, podcast and print publications, appearing on Nightline, NPR, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Good Morning America, O Magazine, Cosmopolitan and over 70 others.

She continues to evolve the field of couples therapy through her tireless commitment. She offers world-class training to thousands of therapists on applying “The Developmental Model” and becoming masterful at the art of couples therapy.

Claudia Black’s seminal work with children impacted by substance abuse in the late 1970s created the foundation for the adult children of alcoholic’s movement. She would be the first to name the dysfunctional family rules: Don’t Talk, Don’t Trust, Don’t Feel. She described the phenomena of delayed stress, emotional trauma and the child’s denial process. She would break the barrier and openly discussed physical and sexual abuse in the context of families affected by addiction. Claudia is internationally recognized for her pioneering and contemporary work with family systems and addictive disorders. Claudia is the author of over fifteen books, most notable It Will Never Happen to Me, having sold over two million copies. Her latest is Unspoken Legacy, the Reverberations of Trauma in the Addicted Family. Her many books are a staple in the education of the behavioral health care practitioners. Today she is a Senior Fellow and Clinical Architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center at The Meadows in Arizona

David Burns, MD is an Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford Medical School, and has served as visiting scholar at the Harvard Medical School. He is author of the phenomenally successful Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (> 5 million sold) and host of the popular Feeling Good Podcast (> 5 million downloads).

Dr. Burns was a pioneer in the development of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) and is the founder of the new TEAM-CBT, which is featured in his latest book, Feeling Great. He has received numerous awards for his research and teaching, including the prestigious A. E. Bennet award for his research on the now-defunct “chemical imbalance” theory of depression and the Irma Bland Teaching Award from the American Psychiatric Association.

More than 50,000 mental health professionals have attended his training programs throughout the United States and Canada.

He is currently working on a Feeling Good App which he believes will outperform human therapists as well as antidepressant medications in the treatment of depression.

Eli Coleman, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School

Dr. Coleman is the author of numerous articles and books on compulsive sexual behavior, sexual offenders, sexual orientation, gender dysphoria, chemical dependency and family intimacy and on the psychological and pharmacological treatment of a variety of sexual dysfunctions and disorders. He is one of the founding editors of the International Journal of Transgenderism and is the founding and current editor of the International Journal of Sexual Health.

He is one of the past-presidents of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the World Association for Sexual Health, the International Academy for Sex Research and the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. He is currently the Chair of the WPATH Standards of Care Revision Committee. He has been a frequent consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (the regional office of WHO), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He has received many awards and honors from the professional associations he has been affiliated including a Gold Medals from the World Association for Sexual Health and the World Professional Association for Sexual and Gender Health

Robert Dilts has a degree in Behavioral Technology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Robert has a global reputation as a developer, author, coach, trainer and consultant in the fields of Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP) and Success Factor Modeling (SFM) and is co-founder of NLP University in Santa Cruz, California. He is also co-founder (with Dr. Stephen Gilligan) of the International Association for Generative Change (IAGC).

Robert worked closely with NLP co-founders John Grinder and Richard Bandler at the time of its creation and also studied personally with Milton H. Erickson, M.D., and Gregory Bateson. Robert pioneered the applications of NLP to education, creativity, health, leadership, belief systems and the development of what has become known as “Third Generation NLP”.

Robert has authored more than thirty books on a variety of topics relating to personal and professional development including Changing Belief Systems with NLP, Tools of the Spirit, From Coach to Awakener, NLP II: The Next Generation, Sleight of Mouth, The Hero’s Journey: A Voyage of Self Discovery (with Dr. Stephen Gilligan) and Generative Coaching Volumes 1-3 (with Dr. Stephen Gilligan).

Stephen Gilligan, PhD, is a psychologist who received his doctorate from Stanford University. He was a major student of Milton Erickson and has been elaborating this work for the past 35 years, while also developing Self-Relations Psychotherapy, and Generative Psychotherapy. In 2004, he received the rarely given Lifetime Achievement Award from the Erickson Foundation in honor of his many contributions. He is well-known throughout the world for his inspirational teaching He has published extensively, including Therapeutic Trances: The cooperation principle in Ericksonian hypnotherapy, The courage to love: Principles and practices of Self-relations psychotherapy, The Legacy of Erickson, Walking in two worlds, and The Hero’s Journey (w/ R. Dilts). His most recent book, Generative Trance: The experience of creative flow, proposes and explores a third generation approach to hypnotic work.

Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is a Nevada Foundation Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of 47 books and over 675 scientific articles, he is especially known for his work on "Relational Frame Theory," a comprehensive empirical research program on human language and cognition, and for its application to "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy," or ACT, which is one of the most widely used and researched new methods of psychological intervention over the last 20 years. Dr. Hayes has received several national awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy. His popular book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life was for a time the best-selling self-help book in the United States, and his recent book A Liberated Mind was released to wide acclaim. His TEDx talks and blogs have been viewed or read by over 3 million people. Research.com lists him as among the top 10 clinical psychologists in the world.

Harville Hendrix, PhD in Psychology and Theology and Helen Lakelly Hunt, Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and a PhD in women's history, co- creators of Imago Relationship Therapy and co-founder of Imago International Training Institute that supports over 2500 Imago therapists in 61 countries. Author and co- author of three NYT best sellers and eight other books on Imago Relationship Therapy including their recent DOING IMAGO RELATIONSHIP THERAPY IN THE SPACE BETWEEN: A Guide for Clinicins. Co-creator with Helen LaKelly Hunt of Safe Conversations, a global social movement located in Dallas and dedicated to furthering the creation of a relational culture.

Dr. Sue Johnson (drsuejohnson.com) is an author, clinical psychologist, researcher, professor, popular presenter and speaker, and a leading innovator in the field of psychotherapy and adult attachment. Sue is the primary developer of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which has demonstrated its effectiveness in over 35 years of peer-reviewed clinical research, and received a variety of awards acknowledging her significant contributions to the field of psychology, including the Order of Canada and the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from Psychotherapy Networker.
“Hold Me Tight, Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love” (2008), written for the general public, is a self-help version of her ground-breaking research – how to enhance relationships, how to repair them and how to keep them. This best seller has sold over one million copies worldwide and been developed into a relationship education program, with both having been translated into over 30 languages. This program has been adapted for therapists to facilitate with specific groups such as families with teens, families with adult children and couples facing cardiac disease, and also into an online version for couples (HoldMeTightOnline.com).
Dr. Johnson’s best-known professional books include "Attachment Theory in Practice: EFT with Individuals, Couples and Families" (2019), "A Primer for Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy" (2022) and "The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection" (3rd edition, 2020),
As founding director of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), Sue trains counselors in EFT worldwide, providing guidance to over 90 affiliated organizations – visit www.iceeft.com for more information.

Peter A. Levine, PhD, holds doctorates in both medical biophysics and psychology. He is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic, body-awareness approach to healing trauma, and founder of the Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute, which conducts SETM trainings throughout the world and in various indigenous cultures.

Some of Dr. Levine’s other achievements include being a stress consultant for NASA during the development of the space shuttle project, as well as a consultant to the Sandia Labs during their report on preventing terrorism commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security in 2002. Dr. Levine was a member of the APA Task Force: Psychologists for Social Responsibility in developing responses to large-scale disasters and ethno-political warfare.

He is currently a Senior Fellow and consultant at The Meadows Addiction and Trauma Treatment Center in Wickenburg, Arizona. Dr. Levine has written several books about trauma. His international best seller, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, has been translated into twenty six languages. Levine’s original contribution to the field of Body-Psychotherapy was honored with the Life Time Achievement award from the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy.

Gabor Maté (pronounced GAH-bor MAH-tay) is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in twenty-seven languages, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his ground-breaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction; When the Body Says No; Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection; Scattered: How ADD Originates and What You Can Do About It; and (with Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers. Gabor’s next book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture is due spring of 2022. To learn more, join his e-news here: https://www.drgabormate.com.

Nancy McWilliams is Visiting Professor Emerita at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology and has a private practice in Lambertville, NJ. She is author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis (1994; rev. ed. 2011), Psychoanalytic Case Formulation (1999), Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (2004), and Psychoanalytic Supervision (2021), all with Guilford Press. She has edited, coauthored, or contributed to several other books, and is Associate Editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (2006; 2nd ed. 2017). A former president of APA’s Division of Psychoanalysis, she is on the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Psychology.
Awards include Gradiva prizes for best clinical book (1999 and 2022), ABAP Annual Book Prize (2021), Erikson Scholar position (2016), Goethe Scholarship Award (2012), Rosalee Weiss award for contributions to practice (2004), Laughlin distinguished teacher award (2007), Hans Strupp Award for teaching, practice and writing (2014), and Division 39 awards for Leadership (2005), Scholarship (2012), and International Academic Excellence (2021). She has appeared in three APA videos of master therapists and was a plenary speaker for the 2015 APA convention.
A graduate of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, Dr. McWilliams is also affiliated with the Center for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey and is a Trustee of the Austen Riggs Center. She is an honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Moscow Psychoanalytic Society, Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Turin, Italy, and Warsaw Scientific Association for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. Her writings are available in 20 languages, and she has taught in 30 countries.

Scott D. Miller, PhD, is the director of the International Center for Clinical Excellence—an international consortium of clinicians, researchers, and educators dedicated to promote excellence in behavioral health services. Dr. Miller is the author of scores of research articles and 15 books, including the most recent, Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Therapeutic Effectiveness (APA, 2020). He conducts workshops and training in the United States and abroad, helping hundreds of agencies and organizations, both public and private, to achieve superior results. His engaging presentation style, and command of the research literature, consistently inspires practitioners, administrators, and policymakers to make effective changes in service delivery.

William R. Miller, PhD (Clinical Psychology) is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico. He has published over 400 professional articles and chapters and 65 books including On Second Thought: How Ambivalence Shapes Your Life (2022), Effective Psychotherapists: Clinical Skills that Improve Client Outcomes (2021), Treating Addiction (2019), and Motivational Interviewing (4th edition, 2023). The Institute for Scientific Information has listed him among the world’s most cited scientists.

Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and professor emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award.

He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, neuroscience, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, psychometrics, space medicine, and substance abuse. He is the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Norton, 2017), and Polyvagal Safety: Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation (Norton, 2021), and co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018). He is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol™, which currently is used by more than 2,000 therapists to improve spontaneous social engagement, to reduce hearing sensitivities, and to improve language processing, state regulation, and spontaneous social engagement. He is a co-founder of the Polyvagal Institute (polyvagalinstitute.org).

Terry Real is a nationally recognized family therapist, author, and teacher. He is particularly known for his groundbreaking work on men and male psychology as well as his work on gender and couples; he has been in private practice for over 30 years. Terry has appeared often as the relationship expert for Good Morning America and ABC News. His work has been featured in numerous academic articles as well as media venues such as Oprah, 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and many others.

In 1997 he published the national bestseller I Don't Want To Talk About It, the first book ever written on the topic of male depression. That was followed by How Can I Get Through To You? an exploration of the role of patriarchy in relationships, and most recently, The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work, a practical guide for couples and couples therapists and Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship.

Terry founded The Relational Life Institute. The Institute offers a training program for therapists as well as workshops for couples and individuals.

Derald Wing Sue, PhD in Counseling Psychology, is Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He was the co-founder of the National Multicultural Conference and Summit, co-founder and first President of the Asian American Psychological Association, past presidents of the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race, and the Society of Counseling Psychology. Derald serves on the Council of Elders for Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Derald is a pioneer in the field of multicultural psychology, microaggression theory, microinterventions, racial dialogues, multicultural counseling and therapy, and the psychology of racism/ antiracism. He is author of five best-selling texts: Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice; Micgroaggressions in Everyday Life; Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race; Microintervention Strategies; and Understanding Abnormal Behavior.. Recipient of numerous awards, Derald was the recipient of the American Psychological Association's Outstanding Contributions to Psychology Award. Two studies have concluded that "Impressively, Derald Wing Sue is without doubt the most influential multicultural scholar in the United States."

Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, is a clinician, researcher, teacher, and developer of A Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy® (PACT). He has a clinical practice in Calabasas, California, and, with his wife, Dr. Tracey Tatkin, co-founded the PACT Institute for the purpose of training other psychotherapists to use this method in their clinical practice.

In addition, Dr. Tatkin teaches and supervises family medicine residents at Kaiser Permanente, Woodland Hills, California, and is an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine. He is on the board of directors of Lifespan Learning Institute and serves as a member on Relationships First Counsel, a nonprofit organization founded by Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt.

Dr. Tatkin was a primary inpatient group therapist at the John Bradshaw Center, where among other things, he taught mindfulness to patients and staff. He was trained in Vipassana meditation by Shinzen Young and was an experienced facilitator in Vipassana. He was also trained by David Reynolds in two Japanese forms of psychotherapy, Morita and Naikan. Dr. Tatkin was clinical director of Charter Hospital’s intensive outpatient drug and alcohol program and is a former president of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Ventura County chapter. He is a veteran member of Allan N. Schore’s study group. He also trained in the Adult Attachment Interview by way of Mary Main and Erik Hesse’s program through UC Berkeley.

Michele Weiner-Davis, LCSW, is the founder of The Divorce Busting® Center in Boulder, Colorado. She is recognized for her groundbreaking work with couples on the brink of divorce. Michele is a bestselling author of eight books including the best-selling DIVORCE BUSTING and THE SEX-STARVED MARRIAGE. Her most recent book is titled HEALING FROM INFIDELITY.

She is also a sought-after speaker whose TEDx talk (The Sex-Starved Marriage) has garnered nearly 8 million views to date. Her websites, www.divorcebusting.com, healingfrominfidelity.com, and themarriageintensive.com, offer valuable information for people in troubled marriages. Michele is the creator of online programs for both therapists and couples.

Michele has received several prestigious professional awards including the Outstanding Contribution to Marriage and Family Therapy award from American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

Michele's work has been widely featured in major newspapers such as the USA TODAY, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, and magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, and others. She has made countless media appearances on shows such as 48 Hours, CBS This Morning, 20/20, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, The Today Show, and Oprah.

Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist residing near San Diego, California. He is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in applying clinical hypnosis in outcome-focused strategic psychotherapy, especially in the active treatment of depression. He has been invited to present his innovative ideas and methods to colleagues in more than 30 countries across six continents, and all over the United States. He is a critic of the medical model of depression and instead advocates for a social perspective, suggesting the problem is less about neurochemistry and more about your circumstances and perspectives in how you manage them. His highly practical YouTube lecture on “How to Recover from Depression” has been viewed approximately 5 million times.

Dr. Yapko is the author of 16 books including his newest award-winning book for professionals called Process-Oriented Hypnosis, his classic hypnosis text Trancework (5th edition), and his popular books for a general audience, Depression is Contagious and Breaking the Patterns of Depression. His works have been translated into 10 languages. He is also the Chief Content Advisor and contributor to the popular digital hypnotherapy mental health app called MindsetHealth. More information about Dr. Yapko’s work is available on his website: www.yapko.com.

On the personal side, Dr. Yapko is happily married to his wife, Diane, a pediatric speech-language pathologist. Together, they enjoy hiking in the Great Outdoors in their spare time.