Virginia Felder, DMin, LMFT - Expert

I like to joke and say that I helped to train Carl Whitaker, the father of Family Therapy.  My father, a psychiatrist who was one of the co-founders of the Atlanta Psychiatric Clinic, decided we should all be in family therapy with Carl and Tom Malone.  This was back in the 1960’s.  Subsequent to family therapy I continued therapy individually and martially throughout many years.  My integrated style of therapy has been far more influenced by therapy I have done in my own life than by formal training I have acquired.

In the early 70’s I sought a graduate program that would enable me to integrate spirituality and psychotherapy.  I had become very discouraged when my father mentioned that he had had wonderful experiences with the Pastoral counseling Department at Columbia Seminary.  So I began my journey getting an M.Div. in ministry, a Th.M. in Pastoral Counseling and then a D.Min. in Spirituality.

Over the years I have been trained in many different styles of therapy.  I made it a point to do co-therapy with every therapist at the Atlanta Psychiatric Clinic when I began practicing.  There were Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Pastoral Counselors and Psychologists among them.  Each had their own unique approach.  And I have also acquired certification for different modalities such as Clinical Hypnosis and Healing Touch.  I am currently in a certification program for and Energy Psychology modality called Emotional Freedom Technique.  My practice is an amalgam of these various approaches.  I seek to work with my client(s) to determine the best way for them to go about the work of healing.  I see myself more as one who helps people to find the right questions rather than one who has the answers; and one who values the wisdom that comes from making mistakes more than the value of doing everything “right.”

My foundational belief is that healing is possible, not by forcing our outside circumstances to change, but by changing ourselves in relation to these outside circumstances.