Dr. Ted Dunn is a licensed clinical psychologist with experience as a consultant, facilitator, professor, psychotherapist, and supervisor to professionals in the field of mental health. He obtained his undergraduate training at Ohio State University, and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from St. Louis University. He completed his graduate training in 1985 following his internship at Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey where he concentrated on psychotherapy and systems interventions.
He has advanced training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy from the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute as well as in family therapy and systems applications from masters in the field (e.g., Jay Haley, Salvador Minuchin, Virginia Satir and Monica McGoldrick). He has extensive experience with neuropsychological and psychological assessment methods and has consulted, taught, published, developed laboratories for hospitals and served as an expert witness in these fields.
As an outgrowth of his clinical experience, Dr. Dunn’s practice has evolved and today focuses upon consulting, training and facilitation services provided to religious and faith-based communities throughout the United States and internationally. He has worked with vocation/formation groups, leadership teams and congregations at all levels. His focus for the past 20 years has been to guide communities in the United States and internationally through processes of deep change and transformation.
He facilitates and trains communities in the skills of communal discernment, contemplative dialogue, effective communications, conflict resolution and reconciliation. He regularly speaks and facilitates at Chapters and assemblies as well as consults with leadership teams. He assists communities in strategic/pastoral planning, visioning, reconfiguring (e.g., mergers), restructuring (e.g., new models of governance), and in developing transformative options (e.g., refounding) for the future. He and his wife, Dr. Beth Lipsmeyer, train communities in unique program they developed called CARE (Conversational Approach to Relational Effectiveness), which not only empowers members with new relational skills, but also fosters systemic change, reconciliation, and new life.
The integration of spirituality, psychology and value-based skills are key to his efforts. Though the approaches and populations he has served have varied over the years, his compassionate approach to healing, belief in the natural resiliency of the human spirit, and personal commitment to life-long learning remain the foundation to all his professional endeavors. These are the bedrock to his current call to minister to religious communities, empowering them to live well and partner in co-creating the future of religious life.