My choice to return to school to earn a doctorate in 1995 began a critical new phase of my personal and professional development. After receiving my M.S.W. in 1981, I worked in a number of mental health agencies and began a private psychotherapy practice after receiving my license. As time went by I developed a specialization in working as a child custody evaluator, mediator, and special master in family law cases. The forensic part of my work was of great interest, but as that part of the practice grew and took up an increasingly large part of my professional life, it became harder to maintain and develop the child and adult psychotherapy portion of my practice.

I noticed that the decision to go back to school, in and of itself, helped invigorate my work and initiated important changes in my practice and professional identity. I began work on my doctorate at CICSW in 1997. The program allowed me to design an individualized course of study that set the foundation for the dissertation phase. I was encouraged and helped to pursue original research into the subject that became my dissertation: "The Ecology of Child Custody Conflicts." Returning to school while maintaining a full time practice and parenting my son was a challenge, but my enjoyment of the learning process and respect for the level of thinking I found in my fellow students and faculty helped me maintain my focus. I deeply appreciated the degree to which I felt valued for whom I was professionally and for what I had already accomplished.

I graduated from the Ph.D. program in 2001. Since that time, I have shifted the direction of my clinical practice so that I am now primarily seeing children and adults for psychotherapy. As a result of my CICSW education, along with ongoing consultation and explorations in analytical psychology, the quality of my clinical work has become much deeper and more meaningful than in the past. I am very grateful to CICSW for the role it has played in this process and I am proud to have studied at this fine institute. In part, my gratitude is expressed through my current service on the Board of Directors.

If you are an M.S.W. or M.F.T., I invite you to enhance your training and experience by joining a vibrant, ethical community dedicated to developing and supporting highly skilled clinicians who are trained to think both theoretically and practically. CICSW may be just the place for you if you are looking to deepen your clinical skills and are ready for a challenge.

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Steven Zimmelman, M.S.W., Ph.D., a graduate of CICSW and a member of the Board of Trustees, is in private practice in Oakland and San Francisco.

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