Teaching
Early in my career, I wore two hats - dividing my time between clinical work, on the one hand, and teaching, on the other. On the clinical side, while still a graduate student, I worked as a psychology intern doing intake interviews and psychotherapy with selected clients at the Duquesne University Psychological Center. There, under the tutelage and supervision of a master clinician, I began to learn my craft. After a two year "apprenticeship", I took a position in a school system where I worked for four years providing counseling and therapy to school-age children and high school adolescents. After becoming licensed as a psychologist in 1981, I continued to work with children and adolescents, doing testing and assessments for another school district. I also began a small private practice which gradually grew larger over time, continuing to the present.
Wide-Ranging Psychology Courses
As I was gaining experience as a therapist, I was also teaching. Working part-time as an instructor at Community College of Allegheny County for seven years and another year at Duquesne University as a predoctoral teaching fellow, I taught all the usual undergraduate fare, including Introduction to Psychology, Child Psychology, Human Growth and Development, Personality and Adjustment, Abnormal Psychology, and even Behavioral Science for Business. By the mid-1980s, I decided to leave the ivory towers of academia and devote all my time and energy to being a "real" psychologist - that is to say, a healer - working with real people, with real problems, in the real world. Still, I always felt that one day I would return to teaching, but only when I had something truly unique and worthwhile to say.
That opportunity presented itself eight years ago when I became an Adjunct Instructor at Butler County Community College (BC3). Not only was their Cranberry Township campus within walking distance of my office but, more importantly, they also allowed me to design and teach only those courses that I myself would actually be interested in taking. Having previously taught traditional credit courses at other institutions, I was fully appreciative of the freedom now afforded me to explore wide-ranging, outside-the-box topics of personal interest. To date, such courses have included:
- Energy Psychology
- Natural Healing
- Mysticism and Enlightenment
- A Course in Miracles
- Manifesting Health, Abundance, and Love
- Love, Sex, and Relationships
- The Gospel of Thomas
- Energy Tapping
- Healing and the Mind
- Psychology of Enlightenment
- Historical Jesus
- The Law of Love
- Mindfulness and Meditation
- Secrets of the Heart
- Subtle Energy and Healing
Course Offering for Fall Semester 2020:
A Course in Miracles
In this course the student will be introduced to the thought system informing A Course in Miracles, a spiritual text that continues to generate intense interest around the world. Based on the reality of love and the transformative power of forgiveness, it remains both controversial and challenging. Join us as we explore and clarify the various layer of meaning in this astonishing text. Non-denominational.