Billie Forisha, Ph.D.

I am a retired Full Professor of Psychology and Family Therapy. In Minnesota, I am a Licensed Psychologist, and in Washington, I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. My practice is dedicated to helping people with relationship problems as well as anxiety, depression, and anger.

Educational and Academic Experience:
Having been awarded a BA degree in World History and Philosophy from the University of Texas in Austin in 1963 and an MA degree in World History from San Francisco State University a few years later, I received my Ph.D. in Human Development at the University of Maryland in 1976. From my experience as a doctoral student came two books: From Skinner to Rogers (about contrasting approaches to psychology; still being read and cited in professional journals) and Moral Development (about contrasting approaches to moral psychology).

As an Associate Professor of Human Department and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University in OH, I co-founded the Women’s Studies and Family Studies undergraduate programs as well as a graduate program in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT). In 1993, I moved to Seattle to co-develop an MA program in MFT at Antioch University. In 2008, having just been named Professor Emeritus at Antioch, I moved to Minneapolis to design and administer a doctorate in MFT at Argosy University. In 2017, I became the Director of the MA Counseling and Psychological Services Program at St. Mary's University in Minneapolis. I retired from full-time academic work in April of 2020.

Post-Doctorate Extensive Clinical Training Included These Places and Subjects:
Ann Arbor Institute for Transactional Analysis and Gestalt Therapy; MFT at the California Family Studies Center in Los Angeles; Clinical supervision of MFT at Purdue University.; “Rural Psychology” in NV (inclusive of psychological testing, the treatment of family violence, anxiety, and depression amongst a diverse but rural population that included persons in poverty, indigenous peoples, and sex workers); Forensic Assessment and treatment of young children who had suffered from physical or sexual abuse in Wilmar, MN.

Awards, Recognitions, Publications, and Invitations:
I have been the recipient of multiple awards for teaching excellence: Teacher of the Year Award from the Washington Association for MFT in 2008 and in 2015, I received the Distinguished Service and Teaching Award from the Minnesota Association for MFT. After retirement, my contributions to the field of Family Therapy were recognized in the 2022-2023 edition of “Who’s Who In America”.

In addition to the two books cited above, my work in Gender Studies was featured in a National PBS special entitled, She/He Shall Overcome (1977); later, I co-authored Creating a Positive Self-Image in Your Child (1988)-which was subsequently recommended to its viewers by Sesame Street. I have also published articles on parenting, eating disorders, couple communication processes, and culturally consonant therapeutic interventions. He has given professional presentations on numerous occasions in my own country and abroad-e.g. at the annual meetings of these societies: International Association for Psychohistory at NYU, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (at state and national levels), International Association of Individual Psychology (in Austria and France), International Family Therapy Association (in Portugal and Argentina), and the International Psychology Association (in Australia). In addition, I have also provided training in MFT at the University of Hong Kong, Shri Ram College in India, Moscow State University, the Catholic University of Arequipa in Peru, the University of Bangalore in India, the University of Maryland in Germany & Japan, and Galileo University in Guatemala. In 2022-23, I served for one semester as a “Visiting Professor” at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Before returning to the US, I worked as a volunteer, helping Ukrainian refugees in Poland adjust to their wartime circumstances. Most recently, I served as a guest speaker on a few of his favorite subjects (e.g. Pragmatic Relational Psychology, The Cycle of Creativity and Anxiety, Comparative Epistemologies, and Psychosocial Challenges to Managing Anxiety in the Modern Era) at the American University in Kiev, Ukraine and at Sumy State University in Sumy, Ukraine. I am currently scheduled to offer training about culturally oriented interventions in Nairobi, Kenya in June of 2025.


Clinical Experience (1979 to present):
Although a full-time professor for most of my career, I have always maintained a part-time private practice in whatever location I was living and teaching. Although otherwise retired, I still do so but on a smaller scale. Hence, I have practiced psychology and/or marriage and family therapy in OH, WA, MN, NV, and CA. I also supervises post-degree LPCC candidates in MN, LAMFT licensure candidates in WA, and candidates for becoming AAMFT Clinical Fellows from other countries. I also provide mentoring for candidates seeking to become AAMFT Approved Supervisors.

The Essence of My Approach to Therapy:
The heart and soul of my approach to therapy is to help clients get more of what they want and less of what they don’t want-- in both their intimate and non-intimate relationships. This is done by exploring clients' current strategies for managing the universal and unavoidable anxieties that we all feel and helping them to change those strategies to the extent that they want to do so.