Anxiety Toolbox: 4 Experts Discuss how they Understand and Treat Anxiety from their Distinct Theoretical Perspectives

Speaker Biographies:

Michael I. Beiley, Ph.D., received his Ph.D. in Child Clinical Psychology with a child and family specialty from the California School of Professional Psychology in 1981.   After working as the Consulting Psychologist for 5 years for an Adolescent Residential Treatment Program for Santa Barbara Mental Health, he opened a general clinical practice of Psychology in the evaluation and treatment of children and adults in Santa Barbara in 1983.   In 1990 Dr. Beiley co-founded  and directed the Anxiety and Panic Disorders Clinic of Santa Barbara.  Since that time, he has restricted his clinical practice to the evaluation and Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of children, adolescents and adults with Anxiety Disorders with a sub-specialty in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and OC Spectrum Disorders. He has been a Professional member of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation, and the Santa Barbara County Psychological Association since 1990.   He has been an Adjunct Faculty at the University of California Extension, Santa Barbara teaching courses in Anxiety Disorders, Anxiety Disorders in Children and Attention Deficit Disorder.

Dean S. Janoff, Ph.D. has been a Licensed Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist in clinical practice in Santa Barbara since 1974.  Dr. Janoff developed a clinical specialty in the treatment of anxiety disorders as Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Anxiety and Panic Disorders Clinic in Santa Barbara in 1992.   Dr. Janoff has published and presented at national conferences on the integration of experiential, gestalt therapy with traditional cognitive-behavioral, research-based practices for the efficacious treatment of anxiety.  Dr. Janoff trained in Gestalt Therapy at the Santa Barbara Gestalt Training Center (where he later served as teaching faculty), Esalen, and the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.  Dr. Janoff’s past academic administrative, faculty and teaching positions include:  Antioch University, Santa Barbara (adjunct and core faculty, Chair of the Graduate Clinical Psychology program); Fielding Graduate University (faculty – Group Psychotherapy Post-graduate Program; adjunct faculty - MA Org. Management/Org. Development; Director of Master’s Programs – School of Human and Organizational Development); Pacifica Graduate Institute (adjunct faculty - Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program); University of California Santa Barbara (clinical supervisor – Clinical/Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program); Santa Barbara Graduate Institute (adjunct faculty – Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program), and the Gestalt Training Center of Santa Barbara.  Dr. Janoff’s current private practice specialties include: anxiety disorders, couples and family therapy, group therapy, and organizational consulting.  Theoretical orientations:  gestalt, systems, experiential, behavioral, and interpersonal neurobiology.

Christine Lewis, Ph.D. has been a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Psychoanalyst & adjunct teaching and supervising faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute since 1996. She has also taught graduate psychology classes at UCSB and The Institute of Contemporary Psychology; as well as literature and writing classes at USC and UCSB. She is a member of The Mind and Lit Program at UCSB.  Dr. Lewis’ research interests include:  attachment theory, relational psychology, therapeutic presence, trauma and interdisciplinary studies of Psychoanalysis.  She is co-author of Christmas in Santa Barbara (2013), a multi-cultural, pictorial, and historical exploration of the origins of contemporary holiday rituals and celebrations.  Dr. Lewis maintains a private practice in Santa Barbara.  

Janice Rudestam, Ph.D., received her doctorate from York University in Toronto in 1985. She is an experiential therapist, with roots in Gestalt Therapy and the humanistic-existential tradition.  Since taking her family on a trek to Nepal in 1995, she has studied Buddhist psychology and practiced mindfulness meditation. She has integrated that training into her psychotherapy practice. Jan is currently adjunct faculty at Fielding Graduate University where she teaches Buddhist Psychology, and was Clinical Director of the MA Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University Santa Barbara for 15 years.

Kjell Rudestam, Ph.D. received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon in 1969, is currently in independent practice (individuals and couples) in Santa Barbara, and is a Professor of Psychology at Fielding Graduate University.  Kjell is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 12), a Diplomate of the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology (Clinical), a Diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, and a Founding Member of the Registry for Certified Group Psychotherapists (CGP).  He is the author of 10 books and numerous articles in the areas of research methodology, suicide, psychotherapy, and family and organizational systems.