Faculty Highlights: Dr. Gerald Fishman

Union Institute & University prides itself on the number of scholar-practitioners we have leading our academic programs. This month I am excited to highlight one of our most distinguished scholar-practitioners: Dr. Gerald A. Fishman. Dr. Fishman successfully combines over three decades of psychological research and practice with a passion for community outreach and the skill and insight for effective institutional administration. He is a resource and model for both students and faculty, and he is a valued member of both his own local community and of the public health, social services and counseling community nationwide.
A New York State Licensed Psychologist and Certified School Psychologist trained in a number of therapy areas related to public health and chemical dependency, Dr. Fishman brings over 30 years of experience from his individual clinical, counseling practice to his role as Associate Dean at the Vermont Center in Brattleboro.
In this role of Associate Dean, he is responsible for administering and providing direct service to master’s and doctoral level graduate programs in psychology. He is active in program development and evaluation, institutional research, outcome assessment, and strategic planning in addition to his teaching responsibilities.
The Master of Arts with a Concentration in Counseling Psychology allows students to become familiar with identifying and treating psychological issues in a variety of clinical, educational and workplace environments. The degree also offers a unique graduate Certificate in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling.  Dr. Fishman’s training in therapy approaches related to chemical dependency and addiction issues, as well as his work with nonprofit organizations, universities, governmental agencies and school systems, make him an invaluable resource and model for students in the program pursuing professional counseling avenues in different areas.
Outside of the academy, Dr. Fishman has used his training to create a number of adolescent chemical dependency and adult disorder programs throughout the state of New York. He is also the director of the Human Services Consultation and Training Institute, in Albany New York, an organization offering statewide and national professional trainings in specific clinical, chemical dependency, behavioral health, and school psychology.
More recently, Dr. Fishman has served as a consultant with Casey Family Programs out of Seattle, Washington. This position involves consultation to not-for-profit community mental health centers and governmental agencies serving rural eastern Kentucky and providing a continuum of care to women, children, and families. In this role, Dr. Fishman participates in formative research, program development, and staff training.
For this issue of The Union Strasse, we asked Dr. Fishman to share some of his views about the important topics for current students of psychology, as well as his insights into what it means for him to practice the value of social responsibility.
The Union Strasse: What started you on the path of psychology, public health, and psychosocial related services?
Dr. Gerald Fishman: My interest in psychology and clinical practice with children and adults was sparked by my volunteer work in high school with special education students and peers encountering academic difficulty.  I reflected on the best teachers I ever had, asking what was it about these teachers that influenced positive learning and emotional and behavioral change in their students, and I also included the effects that these teachers had on me.  From these early experiences, I became very interested in understanding and applying principles identified and researched by psychologists to the goal of helping others encountering challenges in their lives.  This essential purpose influenced pursuit of specialized graduate training, certifications, and professional experience intended to address the needs of children and adults across a variety of clinical and behavioral health areas.
TUS: What are the top two issues that you believe need to be addressed for your students within the therapy and public health fields?
GF: Addiction and trauma-informed treatment are two critical areas that need to be addressed with students in clinical training programs.  The scope and impact of substance abuse is increasingly apparent in mental health, criminal justice, health, and social welfare settings, with adverse childhood events (including trauma) evidenced to influence poor outcomes for both children and adults in these systems.  The symptoms of trauma and substance use disorders are maintained in a vicious cycle.  Trauma-informed care is based on a model of empowerment that promotes recovery from both substance use and mental health disorders and helps the client build skills to increase safety and effective adaptation in their lives.
TUS: What have been the most rewarding aspects of your career within the fields of counseling, teaching, writing, workshop leadership, etc.?
GF: I am both excited and honored by the possibility of making a difference in the lives of others by training future counselors and clinicians in best practices and evidence-based approaches to relieving suffering, enhancing coping skills, and increasing positive life outcomes.  Continued evaluation of educational programs for quality assurance and quality improvement purposes is critical, and informs all of our efforts to provide a valuable and value-laden education for our students.  To this objective, I am actively involved in teaching, practice, and lifelong learning.  Engaged study keeps us humble and grateful.  As the mantra goes, “the more I learn, the less I know.” 

TUS: What does “social responsibility” mean to you? GF: As educators and human services professionals, social responsibility translates to ensuring respect for human dignity and human rights.  Social responsibility and, more broadly, social justice provide a set of principles which guide both the content and the conducting of education for our students.  Enhancing access to education, exploring the nature of responsibility to others through ethical, cultural, and societal lenses, and examining the values which inform our direct actions with others are crucial to influencing fair treatment and equality for all people we serve.

 

Faculty Highlights: Dr. Stella Marrie

For over a decade, Dr. Stella Marrie has been active as a psychotherapist, educator, and community leader. In addition to her responsibilities as professor in Union’s Bachelor of Arts program in the Psychology & Human Development concentration, Dr. Marrie is invested in the political and social justice issues surrounding mental health treatment and therapy practices. Over the years, she has served in community centers and women’s shelters, providing training for volunteers working with victims of domestic violence. Dr. Marrie has participated in outreach programs aiding at-risk youth and teenage mothers, as well as individuals struggling with drug addiction and eating disorders. She has taught a variety of courses in group therapy, personality theory, the psychology of trauma, and human development.Her research interests range from Jungian and contemporary psychoanalytic methods of psychotherapy to spiritual development and existential theories of how individuals and communities create meaning in their lives. She is familiar with depth psychology and transpersonal approaches, and her own personal practice of meditation and spirituality has led her to explore the relationship between Buddhism and Western psychology.
I am honored to highlight an individual with such outstanding professional as well as personal credentials.

The Union Strasse:  What started you on the path of clinical psychology?

Dr. Stella Marrie: I think I was always interested in understanding others. As a child that was expressed in my love for nature and animals. My heroes were people like Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey, and Konrad Lorenz.  I read all their books and thought I would become a research scientist. Goodall was especially inspiring because her method was simply to sit quietly and pay careful attention.  She developed an “I –Thou” relationship with her subjects, which was criticized as “unscientific”, but it was probably the key to her success.As it turned out, I went to the University of Chicago, where a student with my interests was typically directed to the anthropology department.  I studied anthropology for several years but eventually realized that I wanted to work in a way that might benefit others more directly.  I realized that I wanted to be involved in my work in a way that fieldwork did not allow.  As I began to take psychology courses, I found a framework of theory and praxis that wedded my desire to understand others and also to be of some service.   During this time, I was also introduced to Zen meditation.  Zen practice gave me ample opportunities of quiet sitting and careful attention.  This practice of mindfulness also became a core element of how I practice psychotherapy and also how I teach.

One of the formative experiences that led me on this path, both as a therapist and as a teacher of psychology, was through one of my first psychology professors, Gene Gendlin.  He was a unique teacher in that everything he did and said seemed to instantiate the ideas he was presenting. Even if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with psychotherapy, his manner and attitude still expressed the essence of his work as a psychologist.  In this respect, it was sort of impossible not to learn in his presence.  I saw in him a deep integrity in the way that he expressed his life’s work and purpose, and I took this as an example of the way I wanted to teach and what I hoped to offer my own students.
TUS: What are the top 2 issues you believe need to be addressed for students within the psychology field?
SM: Many people think of an undergraduate degree as a means to an end - a first step toward obtaining a credential or a job. It is true that career development and advancement are very important and should be a core element of any degree program.  Alongside this is the deeper significance of study in psychology with its potential to change the way we think, feel, and live.  It is important for a psychology program to consider both dimensions and to address the needs and development of each student in a holistic way. This is especially true for adult students who typically bring a wealth of experience to their studies and often have more individual learning goals than traditional aged college students.
Psychology emphasizes many skills and intellectual attitudes that are applicable to a wide range of fields.  The skills that are integral to a liberal arts education - communication skills, the ability to view complex problems from multiple perspectives, the ability to work collaboratively, the ability to think flexibly and adaptively, an appreciation for diversity – are all deeply embedded in this field.  These are habits of mind that also promote self-understanding, meaningful relationships, creativity, and well-being.   Not surprisingly, they are qualities that are also sought after by employers.  So, I feel that one of the most important things for psychology students to experience in their education is that personal development and professional development are not two separate things, but really one and the same.  An undergraduate degree in psychology provides preparation for a variety of careers and also enhances one’s personal life through a fuller understanding of self and others.  I think that when both elements are addressed, students engage in their learning in a very wholehearted and generative way.  Education then becomes a vehicle to many things, but it is always an end in itself.
TUS: Who are the leaders and examples that you look to or aspire to be like? Why?
SM: Some years ago, I taught a seminar titled, Committed Lives: Social Engagement in Adult Development. The students in the course picked moral exemplars from whom they took inspiration to study and write about.  From that experience my own list of moral exemplars became quite large!  Public figures come to mind – authors, artists, and scientists who have shaped my thinking – as well as many people I have met in my personal life and though my work as a therapist and teacher.
I am not sure that it actually originated in Zen, but there is a saying popular in the Zen tradition that one should strive to “let everything be your teacher”.  This is generally understood as encouragement to learn from all of one’s experiences, but it is also literally true that when you get to know something or someone well enough; they always have something to teach you.  I think that some of the most influential humanitarian leaders of our time – people like Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama – all seem to embody this inclusive, awake, mind and heart.  So now, possibly because of that seminar, when I think of leaders, I tend to think less of individuals but of a collectivity of people who seem to stand for something that I believe is available to be cultivated in everyone.   I am very interested in looking for facets of that in everyone.
TUS: What have been the most rewarding aspects of your career within the fields of counseling, teaching, writing, workshop leadership, etc.?

SM: Teaching is always a two way street, and the process is mutually transformative.  The same can be said of psychotherapy.  So I feel that in both areas of my professional life, the rewards are intrinsic to the activity, as I am always learning and growing through my work.  As a teacher there something especially rewarding about working closely with students and having the privilege of seeing their lives unfold and flourish as the result of their efforts and experiences at Union.  It takes a lot of courage to return to college as an adult with a job, family, and all kinds of responsibilities.  It is inspiring to see them push through internal and external barriers.  Many of them start out on this path to create a better future for their families and only later on realize that it is also for them.  I so admire the determination that they bring to their work.
I have been with the Union for 14 years, and in that time so many graduates have contacted me for a letter of recommendation for graduate school, a reference for a job, or just to update me on new projects or additions to the family.  I now have the honor of working with students in the doctoral program that I started with in the Bachelors program. These reconnections are like a large informal follow-up study about the effects of a Union education, and they enable me to see the big, long-term picture of the role that the Union plays in the lives of its students – and in society.  The intellectual liveliness, creativity, and commitment to doing good in the world that our graduates express in their personal and professional lives is tremendously rewarding for me and my colleagues.
TUS: What does  “social responsibility” mean to you here at Union and outside of Union. How would you describe the role and importance of "social responsibility" in your own life?
SM: I think of social responsibility as an ethical stance rooted in compassion that recognizes the deeply interconnected and constantly changing nature of life.  Unfortunately, we have a lot of social conditioning that runs counter to perceiving suffering and our interconnectedness. So for me, practicing social responsibility involves cultivating an awareness of this interconnectedness on a continual basis and also acting on that awareness in small and large ways.  I feel that the contemplative side of social responsibility is not emphasized enough in discussions of the topic.  It is important because when we have a deep realization of our connection, acting in a purely self-interested way no longer makes sense.  We start to naturally orient our lives in more socially responsible ways through our choices as consumers, our communication with others, and what we are willing to give our time and attention to.  In my personal life, contemplative practice is the method that I use to train my mind to be ready for socially responsible action. I feel that finding ways to skillfully address suffering through my work as a practicing psychologist, and also in teaching my students to respond to suffering in the world, is my primary expression of social responsibility.  Education is also a critical factor in socially responsible action, and I rely on others to help me become aware of the impact of my actions and the social and global issues that I need to be aware of and involved in.