What Can Therapists Offer the Larger World?

William J. Doherty, Ph.D, is a family therapist and Professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota where he directs The Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project and The Citizen Professional Center. Clinically, he currently focuses on couples on the brink of divorce and on relational ethics in the everyday lives of clients. Following the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, he co-founded Braver Angels, a citizen initiative bringing conservatives and liberals together to counteract political polarization and restore the fraying social fabric in American society. Braver Angels now has volunteers working in all 50 states. Among his awards is the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Family Therapy Academy. His latest book is The Ethical Lives of Clients: Transcending Self-Interest in Psychotherapy, published by the American Psychological Association. Along with his daughter, he has started The Doherty Foundation for Social and Civil Well-Being that offers free training in ethical consultation for students and practicing therapists.? 

Tai Mendenhall, PhD, is a Professor and Medical Family Therapist in the Couple and Family Therapy Program at the University of Minnesota (UMN) in the Department of Family Social Science. He is also the Associate Director of the UMN’s Citizen Professional Center and Director of the UMN’s Medical Reserve Corps’ Mental Health Disaster-Response Teams. He works actively in the conduct of collaborative family healthcare and community-based participatory research (CBPR) focused on a variety of public health issues.