Credentials, Training and Presentations

Credentials

• American Family Therapy Academy, January 1986-, Credential ID 940519

• Academic Staff - Cross Faculty Appointment, University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, (1986).

• Registered Social Worker, Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW), Credential ID 2095

• Registered Social Worker/Psychotherapist, Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, Credential ID 775104

Certification

• Infant Mental Health Training Program, C.M. Hinks Institute, 1994

• Toronto Family Therapy Training Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (formerly known as Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (3-year program), 1983

• Two years of supervision in Family Therapy Institute, Supervised by Dr. Freda Martin, 1983-5

Training Sessions and Presentations Conducted

Susan is a lifelong learner that has spent more than four decades training with the most acclaimed leaders in her field in Canada, the US, and the UK. She firmly believes that the pursuit of knowledge allows her to meet the diverse and complex needs of her clients.

She has over four decades of training through the Ackerman Institute via the Cape Cod Summer Symposium, in addition to workshops held through the American Family Academy. Notable subjects she studied were Peggy Papp and Marion Walter’s clinical theories on inclusive marriage therapy, Niel Jacobson’s focus on couples in crisis, and Peggy Papp’s theories on blended families.

The following training covers some notable local and international training sessions and presentations she has conducted over the years.

• AFTA Brown Bag Workshop, “Working with Blended Families”, 2025.

• AFTA Brown Bag Workshop, “Ambiguous Loss with Dr. Pauline Boss”, 2025

• Making Treatment Accessible for Disabled Patients, David Lepofsky (Constitutional Lawyer and Disability Advocate), Hospital for Sick Children (Grand Rounds), 2025

• The Ackerman Institute, Meeting the Big Challenges of Blended Families, “Rupture and Repair”, Patricia Papernow, EdD, New York, 2025.

• The Ackerman Institute, Last Chance Couple Therapy: Bringing Relationships Back from the Brink, Peter Fraenkel, PhD, New York, 2024.

• Special Invitee to Weekly Grand Rounds & Lectures, the Hospital for Sick Children Hospital Department of Psychiatry (Formerly known as the Hincks-Dellcrest Centre), 2009-2019.

• Fieldstone School –Toronto Canada – Anxiety and Depression in Four to Twelve Year –A Teachers’ Guide for Early Intervention, November 2014

• Cape Cod Summer Symposium, Internal Family Systems hosted by Richard Schwartz PhD, 2018

• Business Succession Planning – June 2012, Panel Participant and Keynote Speaker, RBC (Royal Bank of Canada. (Download and Save File As: Windows/Apple Media Video Format)

• CBEA (California Business Education Association Conference - Long Beach California and WBEA (Western Business Education Association Conference)-Succession Planning, 2015 and 2016, respectively. (Download and Save File As: Windows/Apple Media Video Format)

• Helping Grade Six Forecast What Their Teen Life Might be Like, St. Clement’s School, February 2006

• Helping Parents Survivor Teenage Angst “A Parents Survival Guide to Parenting”, St. Mildred’s Lightbourn School, January 2006

• BCBEA (British Columbia Business Education Association Conference - Crisis Management, Vancouver Canada, 2010 (Download and Save File As: Windows/Apple Media Video Format)

• New England Educational Institute - Galway, Ireland, 2019

• Ontario Association of Mediation of Family Mediation, 1996-2005

Publications

• “Baby it’s You”—Health Watch Canada, June 10th, 1996

• “Childcare, 0-4 Years of Age” – Healthwatch, April 1st, 1996

• “Battle Dress”—Toronto Sun, January 1996

• “Choosing a Summer Camp”—City Woman Magazine, March 1st, 1996

• “Living with ADD, Part II” –City Woman Magazine, Feb 1st, 1996

• “Living with ADD, Part I”—City Woman Magazine, Dec 1st, 1995

• “The Good Divorce, Part II”—City Woman Magazine, Oct 1st, 1995

• “The Good Divorce, Part I”—City Woman Magazine, Sep 1st, 1995

• “Kids Camp Countdown”—Parent to Parent Magazine, June 1st, 1995

• “Preparing Your Child for their First Sleepover”—City Woman Magazine, April 1st, 1995

• “Dear Susan”—Canadian Jewish News, a regular column that appeared between 1995-8

• “A Helping Hand”—My personal newsletter published in 1995-2000 with a circulation of 300. Topics based on general concerns from my practice.

• “Humor is a Serious Business”—E.A.P. Association Newsletter, Oct 1st, 1987

• “Psychopathology in Adolescent Children of Physicians”—Canadian Medical Journal, March 1st, 1984

• “Psychopathology in Adolescent Children of Physicians”—Psychiatric News, 1983. Tools for Independence