I am a psychologist, educator, consultant and best-selling author specializing in clinical work with children, adolescents, couples, and families. I am also the Founder and Director of The Father Center, a program designed to meet the needs of new, expectant, and experienced fathers.
My books have been translated into numerous languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, German, and Danish. I’ve written regularly for Redbook, Parenting, Parents, Child, and American Baby magazines and been interviewed on numerous podcasts as well as hundreds of radio and television shows, including The Today Show, 20/20, The Montel Williams Show, The Sally Jesse Raphael Show, and The Diane Rehm Show.
The through line in all that I do is the desire to ease unnecessary suffering and to promote growth and healing in response to life’s inescapable changes and challenges. Whether I am consulting with patients, lecturing, leading workshops, or composing poetry or music, I remain focused on the kaleidoscopic complexity of the human condition, and on discovering, or rediscovering, the ways in which we can move through a sometimes difficult world with strength, hope and enriched relationships with others.
I have been licensed as a psychologist for forty years, and directed inpatient and outpatient treatment centers for children and adolescents until opening my private practice in 1987.
I am a graduate of Brown University, where I met my wife, Dr. Karen Meckler, a psychiatrist and medical acupuncturist. Together, we have raised three young adult children in Columbia, Maryland. Our lives have been additionally enriched by our grandchildren and the persistent presence of perpetually entertaining rescue dogs.