LCSW-R, CGP
Chris is Clinical Director at Village Counseling VCCP in NYC and has been in clinical practice for over 30 years. He is a Group Analyst and Certified Couples Therapist, with a specialty in training individual, couple and group therapists.
Currently, Chris serves on the faculty of Adelphi University, the Training Institute for Mental Health, and has served as Associate Director of the Psychoanalytic Society & Institute’s Group Therapy Program. He was an adjunct professor at the New York Institute of Technology and has lectured on empathy at Summer Principal’s Academy, Teachers College, Columbia University and Harlem Hospital. His course “Finding the WE Space,” is a post graduate level program designed to help student therapists develop their empathy skills. He has also developed “The Empathic Classroom,” a customized program for Teachers and K-7 students. Notable publications and presentations include:
- “Sustained Empathic Focus and the creation of a We Space revisited in light of recent findings in neurobiology” Co-authored with Martin Livingston PhD., published in 2017 in the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy.
- “Deconstructing Empathy and Creating a We Space in Group Therapy” published 2016 in GROUP, the Journal of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society.
- “Being Human Together: Empathy Revisited” Academic paper presented at the 2013 annual meeting of the International Association of Analytic Self Psychology, Chicago, Ill.
- “Lars and the Real Girl – An Intersubjective Systems Perspective” presented at Training Institute for Mental Health Seminar, ‘Working with Delusion, Fantasy, Hope, and Empathy in Group Therapy” Feb. 2013. This presentation was repeated and jointly presented with A. Brok PhD. at the annual conference of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy, Boston, MA, 2014.
Chris is the co-founder of The EmpathyWorks Project (EWP) which is dedicated to delivering training in emotional intelligence and support for emotional well-being through digital technologies to broad segments of society. Within EWP, Chris has developed the “EmQ” (empathy quotient) a non-self-reporting instrument designed to measure an individual’s empathic ability. His approach to psychotherapy follows the precepts of “Relational Self Psychology,” and “Intersubjective Systems Theory,” which are contemporary schools in psychoanalytic thought. A forward thinker, he is a regular participant in psychoanalytic conferences as a presenter and group facilitator. Prior to becoming a therapist, Chris had a successful twenty-year business career in the insurance and financial services industry, excelling in team building and communications.