Therapy on the Cutting Edge

​In this episode, I speak with Roberta Savage, a special education attorney with nearly three decades of practice, about navigating the complex systems of special education law, school accommodations, and advocacy for students with disabilities. Roberta shares her personal journey, which began during her sophomore year at UC Santa Barbara when she swapped living arrangements with a friend to work as a nanny for a boy diagnosed with autism. That experience led her to join the Koegel Autism Research Center where she worked under advisor Dr. Robert Koegel. She worked as a behavior analyst after her undergraduate years, and later attended UC Davis Law School, interned with Disability Rights California and a disability-rights legal services program, worked as a lawyer in a special education law firm, and eventually opened her own practice.. We discuss the fundamental distinctions between Section 504 plans and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), with Roberta framing 504 plans as mechanisms that provide general access through accommodations and have a low barrier to entry, whereas IEPs are designed for skill-building and to provide service and support. She walks through the assessment timeline, and highlights the differences in timelines between private schools and public schools. We examine the tactical differences between Student Success Team (SST) meetings, which is a general education function, and formal special education evaluations, and Roberta emphasizes the importance of submitting a request for an assessment in writing. Roberta explains that academic and social success often conceals deeper underlying challenges like school refusal, ADHD, and severe anxiety, and that special education is not just for children with cognitive deficits, but for children with emotional challenges as well. She emphasizes that schools evaluate educational impact across behavioral, emotional, and social domains rather than issuing formal medical diagnoses, as schools are not diagnosticians. We discuss the strategic role of Independent Educational Evaluations (IEEs), the evolving utility of neuropsychological assessments versus psychoeducational evaluations, and how important it is for parents to work with their children’s therapists. Roberta also outlines strategies for handling disputes with school districts, noting that parents can provide partial consent to agree with eligibility and specific supports while contesting others, and notes that roughly 96% of special education cases in California successfully resolve through mediation and settlement agreements before ever reaching a formal due process hearing. Roberta Savage, J.D., is a practicing lawyer and attorney who has devoted her career to representing children with disabilities. She earned her J.D. from the University of California Davis Law School in 1999 and her masters’ in educational psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1995. As a special education attorney, Roberta represents children with disabilities and their parents in program disputes with local education agencies. The goal of her work is to help parents navigate through the process of obtaining a free appropriate public education for their special needs children. Roberta is a Board Member at the California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy and a member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, and formerly served as a member of the Office of Administrative Hearings Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2010. Roberta has presented at numerous conferences and institutes, such as the Practicing Law Institute, National Business Institute, and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates Conference.

In this episode, I speak with Laurel Parnell, Ph.D. about the evolution of EMDR and the development of her attachment-focused approach. Drawing on more than three decades of experience training therapists in EMDR, Laurel shares how her clinical work with childhood trauma, abuse, diverse cultural backgrounds and complex relational histories led her to adapt and expand the traditional EMDR protocol. Laurel discusses why safety, resourcing, client autonomy, and the therapeutic relationship are essential when working with trauma, especially for clients with complex or developmental trauma. She explains the importance of looking not only at what happened to a client, but also at what they may not have received growing up, and how Attachment-Focused EMDR can help address these developmental gaps. Laurel talks about early her training with Francine Shapiro, and being part of a group of facilitators who discussed their experiences and adaptations teaching and applying EMDR in practice. She discussed her adjustments to the standard EMDR protocol including her approach to bilateral stimulation, use of bilateral tapping and other alternatives to eye movements, using resource figures such as nurturing, protective and wise figures, as well as her perspective on the standard use of positive and negative cognitions. Throughout the conversation, Laurel emphasizes the importance of trusting the client’s own healing process, adapting therapy to individual and cultural needs, and maintaining the structure of EMDR without becoming rigid or prescriptive. Laurel Parnell, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and director of the Parnell Institute for Attachment-Focused EMDR. She is one of the world’s leading experts on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and is the originator of the EMDR-related therapies Attachment-Focused EMDR and Resource Tapping. She is an EMDR trailblazer with expertise in transpersonal psychology who has immersed herself in the practice and development of EMDR since 1991. Laurel has served on the faculty of the California Institute for Integral Studies and John F. Kennedy University. She is the author of several books and videos on EMDR, including, Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma, A Therapist’s Guide to EMDR, Rewiring the Addicted Brain with EMDR-Based Treatment, Tapping In, and Releasing What Isn’t Yours: Living from Your True Self Through Multidimensional Integrative Healing. Laurel keynotes conferences, trains clinicians in Attachment-Focused EMDR, and teaches workshops nationally and internationally on Attachment-Focused EMDR, Rewiring the Addicted Brain and Resource Tapping.

In this episode, I speak with Tom Wooldridge, Psy.D, A.B.P.P., a psychologist and psychoanalysist who works with adolescents, adults, and families with eating disorders, about integrating family-based and psychodynamic approaches. Tom shares his career journey, beginning with his training at the Family Institute of Pinole, where he first encountered a young person and his family struggling with an eating disorder and how family based interventions were so helpful. Later, he began seeing clients who had improved with Family Based Therapy for Anorexia in adolescence, but relapsed during major life changes, which led him to explore the personality-level factors that can make people vulnerable. We discussed how the DSM’s focus on observable symptoms can miss important differences between people with the same diagnosis, such as the perfectionistic, high-achieving presentation of anorexia versus a more under-regulated, borderline presentation. We also talked about binge eating disorder, its link to trauma history, impulsivity, and uncomfortable feelings. Tom shared his work with males, including anorexia in men and muscle dysmorphia, and how obsessive-compulsive features can narrow a person’s focus on their body. We discussed the three stages of FBT and the importance of building a treatment team that includes a physician trained in eating disorders, since weight alone can’t show medical severity. Tom described the need to address refeeding from the start while also doing deeper therapeutic work, and the way therapists can swing between worry about safety and focus on the psychotherapy. We explored the Minnesota starvation experiment and how restriction can act as a numbing agent for hard emotions, and how therapy can help clients turn towards relationships for regulation instead. Tom also discussed working with families from a psychodynamic lens, including transference and countertransference. Finally, he described the framework in his book for parents, which moves from control to connection through three pillars: emotional regulation, emotional attunement, and reflective function, drawn from mentalization and attachment theory. We also touched briefly on ARFID and how different underlying causes require different treatment approaches. Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, CEDS-S, is a psychoanalyst and board-certified, licensed psychologist who is the Vice Provost of Digital Innovation and founding Dean of the school of Psychology at Golden Gate University. He has treated children, adolescents, and adults with eating disorders, including working with parents navigating a child’s treatment. He is a Personal and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California and a Training Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and he serves on the faculty of several psychoanalytic training programs, including the William Alanson White Institute's Eating Disorders, Compulsions, and Addictions program. He has served on the advisory council for the National Eating Disorders Association and has been interviewed by outlets including Newsweek, Slate, and WebMD. His books include Understanding Anorexia Nervosa in Males, the edited volume Psychoanalytic Treatment of Eating Disorders, and Eating Disorders: A Contemporary Introduction. He has also written a novel about the process of psychotherapy, Ghosts of the Unremembered Past. His newest book, End the Food Fight: Replacing Control with Connection to Help Your Child Heal from an Eating Disorder, with a foreword by Susie Orbach, is written for parentsand clinicians. He has a private practice in Berkeley, CA.

In this episode, I speak with Fred Rabinowitz, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Redlands, about his nearly 40-year career at the intersection of psychology, masculinity, and men's mental health. Fred shares his personal journey, from growing up as the oldest of three boys with a father who was both a traditional male and an artist who encouraged emotional openness and close friendships, to a pivotal experience in first grade when hugging a friend led to being ridiculed. He discusses how that early moment shaped his understanding of how boys are socialized to suppress their emotional lives, shifting from open and affectionate to competitive and emotionally guarded. We discuss how Fred and his colleague Sam Cochran established one of the first university-based therapeutic men's groups at the University of Missouri in 1982, and the critical role that positive older male figures can play as mentors, helping young men feel less alone and creating a constructive cycle of emotional openness. Fred explains that therapy with men requires a different approach given the gender norms they have internalized, emphasizing the importance of entering with empathy and curiosity rather than judgment, building trust, and helping clients reflect on the underlying reasons for their behavior rather than simply naming symptoms. We discuss loss as a primary wound that often brings men into therapy, and how avoidance behaviors such as substance abuse serve as coping mechanisms. Fred describes how intimacy is frequently conflated with sex, and how emotional closeness between men is often perceived as threatening despite being a fundamental human need for connection. He also addresses the post-pandemic cultural landscape, critiquing the manosphere's emphasis on physical appearance and wealth as paths to fulfillment, and the need for greater empathy toward men within feminist movements. Fred shares stories from his latest book, Deepening Group Psychotherapy with Men, which chronicles the group dynamics of ten men in therapy and represents his favorite blend of storytelling and clinical practice. We also discuss Men and Depression, which examines black-and-white thinking, suicide risk, and the emotional disconnection that can leave men uncertain of their own emotional states. The conversation then turns to a forthcoming book on the psychology of poker, co-authored with Darren Elias. Fred recounts how their collaboration began when, as Dean, he mentored a young Darren through academic difficulties stemming from his lucrative online poker play, supporting his transition to a creative writing major. Fred discusses poker as a metaphor for how men conceal their emotions in everyday life, navigating vulnerability and alliance without revealing their hand. We also discuss his upcoming project Strength with Heart, a self-help book and workshop series designed to help men develop self-awareness and reflect on their experiences, and the broader challenge of reconciling strength with emotional openness and compassion. Fredric E. Rabinowitz, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Redlands, where he taught for nearly 40 years, including courses on the Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships. He earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1984, where he and his graduate school colleague Sam Cochran co-led one of the first university-based therapeutic men's groups in 1982, a program that continues to this day with a thriving alumni network. Fred has maintained a private practice in Redlands, California, specializing in psychotherapy with men since 1986, including a weekly therapeutic men's group. He is a past president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities (APA Division 51), having served as president in 2006, and was the lead author of the APA's first-ever Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Boys and Men, a landmark 13-year project. He is the author and co-author of numerous books on male psychology, including Man Alive: A Primer of Men's Issues (1994, with Sam Cochran), Men and Depression: Clinical and Empirical Perspectives (2000, with Sam Cochran), Deepening Psychotherapy with Men (2002, with Sam Cochran), Breaking Barriers in Counseling Men: Insights and Innovations (2014, with Aaron Rochlen), and Deepening Group Psychotherapy with Men: Stories and Insights for the Journey (2019). He is currently working on Strength with Heart, a practical guide to increasing male self-awareness and psychological flexibility, co-authored with Daniel Ellenberg. He is also writing a forthcoming book on the psychological dynamics of poker players, co-authored with Darren Elias. The collaboration grew out of a years-long mentorship relationship that began when Fred, then serving as Dean, guided a young Darren through academic difficulties stemming from his lucrative online poker play. An avid poker player who has competed in the World Series of Poker, Fred draws on that experience to explore how men navigate vulnerability, emotional concealment, and connection in everyday life.

In this episode, I speak with Celine Saulnier, PhD, a clinical psychologist and co-author of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Third Edition, about the evolving science and clinical practice of autism assessment and diagnosis. Celine shares her path from training with M-CHAT developer Deborah Fein, to nearly a decade at the Yale Child Study Center, to directing clinical research at Emory University and the Marcus Autism Center, and finally to founding her own practice. We discuss the two hallmark domains of autism, social communication differences and restricted or repetitive behaviors, and why no single measure can capture the conditions variability across verbal ability, cognitive functioning, and presentation. She describes groundbreaking eye-tracking research showing that divergence from typical social attention emerges as early as six months of age, and research has led to FDA approval of a diagnostic technology called EarliPoint to identify autism in child from this young age up to eight years old. We also discuss the genetics of autism in children, including recurrence risk for siblings and the concept of the “broader autism phenotype,” where family members show subthreshold traits (or shadow traits) that still warrant support. We discussed aspects of autism, including theory of mind, sensory processing differences, and repetitive behaviors, as well as the chronic anxiety, dysregulation, and burnout that can result from navigating a world not built for neurodivergent processing. Celine distinguishes between camouflaging and masking, and discusses how these coping strategies, while adaptive in the short term sense, can be associated with poor mental health outcomes over time. Finally, we explore the range of interventions available across the lifespan, from parent coaching and skill building in early childhood to social skills groups, executive functioning coaching, and life coaching in adulthood. Celine Saulnier, Ph.D., obtained her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut, after which she completed a postdoctoral fellowship and then joined the faculty at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine. At Yale, Celine worked closely with Drs. Sara Sparrow and Domenic Cicchetti investigating adaptive behavior profiles in Autism Spectrum Disorders. She became the Training Director and then Clinical Director for the Yale Autism Program, specializing in diagnostic evaluations of individuals with autism and related disorders across the lifespan. In 2011, she relocated to Emory University School of Medicine and the Marcus Autism Center to help develop and direct a large-scale clinical research program. In 2018, she opened her own diagnostic clinic and consulting company, Neurodevelopmental Assessment & Consulting Services (www.nacsatl.com) in Decatur, GA. Celine remains an Adjunct Associate Professor at Emory University, and she conducts national and international trainings to professionals on autism and related disorders. For her teaching, she was awarded the New England Educational Institute Outstanding Educator Award for Mental Health Education. Celine is on the editorial board for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Autism Science Foundation, and an Emeritus member of the Atlanta Autism Consortium's Board of Directors. In addition to co-authoring the Vineland-3, Celine has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, and she has written two books, Essentials of Autism Spectrum Disorders Evaluation and Assessment and Essentials of Adaptive Behavior Assessment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.