Psychologist & Psychoanalyst
Thursday, May 16, 2019
7:30-8:30am
Blake Campus (Hopkins), Bovey Chapel

Dr. Valerie Golden '72 is president of the American Psychoanalytic Association Candidates' Council and a highly sought-after therapist with more than 25 years' experience specializing in the treatment of attorneys, professionals and executives.

A current columnist for Psychology Today, national speaker and author, Valerie worked as a corporate and securities lawyer from 1980-1992 and served as the Minnesota's deputy commissioner of commerce from 1990-1991. After receiving her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1998, she established a private practice in Manhattan and joined the adjunct faculty of Columbia University's clinical psychology program and medical school. She has taught at psychiatric conferences at Harvard, Stanford and the University of Virginia. She moved her practice to the Twin Cities in 2009.

In her Breakfast at Blake presentation, "What Do You See?: Looking Through a Psychologist's Lens," Valerie  discussed some of what goes on inside the mind of a mental health professional during psychotherapy, how the process may feel like a conversation but is actually quite different, and how people use the process differently. She highlighted certain commonalities among the ways mental health professionals hear various concerns, as well as commonalities patients often imagine — from "I must be the only person like this" to "Am I boring you?"