Bob has been a therapist and consultant since 1973, practicing in Oregon since 1984. He is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the states of Oregon and California, an Oregon certified Clinical Supervisor through Lutheran Family Services, a clinical member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, a professional member and former Board member of The Association for Humanistic Psychology, and a founding member of the Association for Humanistic Psychology – Oregon Community (1992) and the founder of the Existential-Humanistic Northwest professional organization (2010).
Bob read Freedom to Learn by Carl Rogers, Ph.D. in 1971, and has had a passion for the Existential Humanistic Perspective ever since. He is fascinated by the ways in which all of us as human beings construct and discover meaning in our lives and the uniqueness of each human being’s lived experience.
After studying the works of the existential humanistic pioneers — Carl Rogers, Rollo May and Abraham Maslow — Bob entered into a mentorship with Jim Bugental, Ph.D., the first President of the Association for Humanistic Psychology and author of numerous books and articles, including The Art of The Psychotherapist, Psychotherapy and Process, and The Search for Existential Identity. Jim created a yearly retreat, a week-long intensive training on The Art of the Psychotherapist, for professionals. Jim facilitated these from 1991 through 1994. Bob has participated in these groups every year since 1991. These trainings have served to deepen the participants’ work as psychotherapists within the existential humanistic perspective, and within Jim’s unique lens. Since 1994, the trainings are now collegial and consultant-led. Bob has taken what he has learned from these trainings back to Portland and has created and led training and case consultation groups for professionals and students since 1995. Bob provides clinical supervision and consultation, as well as trainings and workshops for professionals, registered interns, and students.
Bob has a great interest in exploring what it means for each of us to be authentic and has provided workshops exploring this. Bob has written numerous articles on the Existential-Humanistic perspective and has a blog on Psychology Today called Authentic Engagement: A Radical Way of Being. He has a chapter in the Handbook of Humanistic Psychology, 2nd edition (2015) titled Frames, Attitudes, and Skills of an Existential-Humanistic Therapist. He has provided workshops on this material. He participated in two panels at the 2nd Existential Psychotherapy World Congress in 2019.
Born in New York, Bob moved to San Francisco in 1979, where he met his wife. In 1984 they moved to Portland, where they have raised their daughter. Bob enjoys playing tennis, going to the theatre, and reading psychology, philosophy, and the Sports section.
At Live True Counseling, Bob provides professional development support, organizational development support, and clinical consultation. To learn more about Bob, check out his website at www.BobEdelstein.com.
