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Biography:
Susan Raeburn, Ph.D.
Welcome to my practice. As Eric indicated, I am a licensed clinical psychologist in Berkeley, California with special interests in working with creative people. I’ve been in clinical practice doing psychotherapy and consultation for over twenty years with writers, artists, and musicians in addition to writing about musicians’ mental health. In addition to working with individuals, I’ve also worked with couples and bands.
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Over the years, the scope of my work has included a wide range of issues- from the treatment of serious diagnosable mental conditions (such as addiction, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and recovery from trauma) to support and nurturing of personal growth and development as well as working on stress management, life transitions, codependency, and improving interpersonal relationships. Of course, I have never turned away people who did not initially consider themselves “creative” and have worked with many “civilians” who often come to appreciate their creative aspects more fully as they work through problems that interfered with their growth.
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I became involved in working with creative people quite naturally having grown up in and continued to associate with artistic sub-cultures throughout my life. In addition to being a lifelong music fan, amateur singer and guitar player since my teen years, perhaps my best personal qualification for working with artists and musicians is having had professional musicians as parents- Boyd Raeburn and Ginnie Powell of the Big Band era. Not surprisingly, I decided to work with artists in my career.
On the credentials side:
I received my Ph.D. in Social-Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkeley in 1984. My doctoral dissertation was the first academic study of occupational stress and coping in professional rock musicians and was subsequently published in 1987. I did pre- and post-doctoral internships at Stanford University Medical Center in the Behavioral Medicine Clinic (1983-1986) and then worked as a staff psychologist and researcher at Stanford in both Behavioral Medicine and the Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center until 1992. In addition to private practice, I have been a part-time staff psychologist in the Chemical Dependency Services program at Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek since 1992. I am pleased to be a member of the Editorial Board of the journal, Medical Problems of Performing Artists.
On the culture industry side: I have presented papers and been active on panels at music industry conferences (such as South by Southwest, North by Northwest, NARAS, the Future of Music Coalition, The Experience Music Project and E! Entertainment TV) on the subjects of musicians’ health issues and coping with the stresses and strains of the business. In addition to working with writers, artists, musicians and bands, I continue to publish on musicians’ health issues and have co-authored an addictions recovery book for artists with Eric Maisel for Shambhala Publications for publication in September 2008.
If you feel you would benefit from a consultation with me, or, if you reside in the Bay Area and are seeking psychotherapy, feel free to contact me:
e-mail: sdr510@comcast.net
telephone: (510) 841-1820
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