Sylvia Olney MA, LMFT, PhD
I was trained as a psychotherapist and counsellor at the Adler Graduate School in Minneapolis, specializing in marriage and family therapy (1996), and obtained a doctoral degree in anthropology, specializing in psychology and healing systems, through the University of Minnesota (2010). I have also certified as a kabbalistic healer through A Society of Souls (2009) and in wellness through the National Wellness Institute (2017) and worked as an itinerant preacher. My doctoral work, on the medicalization of psychotherapy, has been published (2015).
As a practitioner, I focus on how people are motivated and their spiritual state, as well as on how their lifestyle contributes or detracts from their wellness, based on the most recent medical findings that our psychological and spiritual state as well as lifestyle choices influence the body’s expression.
I was born in Germany and grew up in Australia. When I was 19 years old, I returned to Europe where I spent my twenties. I emigrated to the United States in 1981, where I returned to college and ultimately became a college and university instructor as well as a psychotherapist and community educator. My most passionate interests consist of contributing to family and community well-being, and the promotion of peace and non-violence, all of which can only come about through change that begins with the self.