Speaker Specialization: Sex and Intimacy

Dr. Ellis specializes in and has a passion for assessing and treating sexual, mental health, and relational concerns across the lifespan (childhood through adulthood). Specifically, she works with individuals and couples surrounding issues of relationship wellness, sexual health, and intimacy. Dr. Ellis regularly hosts couples workshops and retreats. She additionally gives mental health and relationship enhancing presentations to churches and religious organizations in the Los Angeles, California area. She currently serves on the faculty of the Institute for Sex Education & Enlightenment (ISEE) where she teaches courses on child and adolescent sexual development, out of control sexual behavior, and common issues in couples and partner sex therapy.

*Accepting New Certification Candidates*

Mesha is a clinical and forensic psychologist who specializes in working with individuals, couples, and families. She has been in private practice for nearly 20 years. Her years of experience in teaching and serving clients across the lifespan has provided her with a deep knowledge of individual, developmental, cultural, familial, and societal processes that influence the therapeutic process and outcomes.

Mesha has extensive experience working with clients presenting with relationship issues. Whether it is a child/adolescent struggling with peer relationship or romantic partner difficulties, parents struggling to relate to their child(ren), or adults struggling in their intimate relationships. She enjoys helping consultees tease apart presenting and clinical issues, developing effective treatment plans, becoming comfortable with sharing and reviewing videos, and confidently implementing Gottman Method interventions. Her consultative style is characterized by warmth, empathy, humor, and a caring yet direct approach.

You can contact Mesha directly to learn about her consultation pricing and more through her Gottman Referral Network profile here.

*Accepting New Certification Candidates*

Dr. Bumberry is a clinical psychologist with more than 25 years experience helping couples create connection and deepen their bonds. During the past decade, the Gottman Method, with its clinical clarity and impactful interventions, has been at the center of this work. In addition to being a Certified Gottman Therapist, he is also active in presenting the Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 workshops and serves as a video reviewer.

Being part of this community continues to inform Dr. Bumberry’s practice and enriches his professional life. While there are many rewarding aspects to belonging to the Gottman community, one of the most gratifying is the opportunity to serve as a consultant to clinicians pursuing certification.

Consultation is the central process for helping you integrate the Gottman Method ideas and interventions into your work. In addition to becoming proficient in using the core Gottman Method interventions, understanding their “spirit” is essential in learning to effectively blend them with your own therapeutic style. The process emphasizes using case consultation and videotape review as the most effective ways to provide focused, clinically relevant feedback regarding your work.

You can contact William directly to learn about his pricing and more through his Gottman Referral Network profile here.

Vagdevi has over 30 years of experience as a therapist, consultant, and educator. Vagdevi has been a certified Gottman Couples Therapist and workshop leader since 2006. She offers the “Art and Science of Love” weekend workshop for couples, developed by Dr. John Gottman, in Austin and in other cities in the US. A Master professional trainer for the Gottman Institute, Vagdevi has presented to professional and lay audiences in the US, Canada, and India. Vagdevi incorporates mindfulness, neurobiology, and positive psychology into her presentations on relationships, and has published a book chapter on Positive Couple Relationships from evidence based research around the world and several articles on the Gottman method of couples therapy.

Vagdevi is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Relationships, a community counseling, training, and outreach center that specializes in promoting flourishing relationships in all spheres based on best practices in relationship science. The Center for Relationships has a research program called Love across Cultures, which looks at committed and intimate relationships in different cultures as well as inter-cultural relationships. The outreach and education programs at the center include couples intensives and retreats, groups, and community forums on healthy relationships, conflict management, trust recovery, and parenting.

*Accepting New Certification Candidates*

Vagdevi Meunier, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Professor at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. She has a private clinical and consulting practice in Austin where she specializes in couples and family therapy, couples workshops, training and supervision, and organizational consultation. A native of India, Vagdevi has extensive experience with multicultural psychology, especially eastern influences on psychological practice, and cross-cultural research on relationships. She has over 25 years of experience as a therapist, consultant, and educator and has been full-time core faculty in the Master of Arts in Counseling program at St. Edwards since 2004 where she teaches primarily marriage and family therapy courses.

Her primary clinical expertise is as a Certified Gottman Therapist and a certified Gottman Trainer Workshop Leader. She offers the Art & Science of Love workshop for couples twice a year in Austin and has joined other workshop leaders to offer this workshop for couples in other cities. She is also an approved professional trainer and consultant with The Gottman Institute and has presented nationally and internationally on the Gottman Method including Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 trainings around the US and Canada.

“I have learned much under the guidance of Dr. Vagdevi Meunier who is an exceptional relationship therapist and consultant.”

“I absolutely enjoyed working with Dr. Vagdevi, she is amazing!! “

You can contact Vagdevi directly to learn about her consultation pricing and more through her Gottman Referral Network profile here.

As a Certified Gottman Therapist and Master Trainer for The Gottman Institute, Dr. Young regularly teaches their clinicians’ track, Levels 1, 2, and 3, serves as a Consultant for therapists pursuing certification, and leads the Art & Science of Love Couple’s Workshops. In her private practice she has seen thousands of couples in all stages of relationship (dating, pre-marital, married/cohabitating, transitioning to parenthood, post-affair, divorced) in couple’s counseling, marathon therapy, and workshop formats.

Dr. Nancy owns and runs, Pathways to Wellness, a multi-specialty private practice which includes six therapists and three therapy dogs, all of whom have some training in Gottman Method couple’s therapy, in Costa Mesa, California. She is passionate about diversity as she believes that every relationship is a cross-cultural and transpersonal experience.

“Current research studies have now shown us that good relationships have the capacity to heal and elevate every aspect of our lives, to reduce fear and physical pain, to lessen depression, to increase productivity and creativity, to lower blood pressure, to extend our lives, and make them happier and much more fun. In a time when so many of us are longing for community, I find it surprising that we don’t teach more about how to actually do great relationships starting at least by early high school, especially now that we have great research from the Gottmans and others to give us such clear, easy-to-apply tools!”

*Accepting New Certification Candidates*

You might be thinking, “I feel pretty awkward about this videotaping thing and I really hate to be watched, especially when I’m learning something new!” if so, you’re not alone. One of the things Nancy loves most about the Gottman model is that it’s so collaborative and respectful. The model honors the experience and intellect of all clinicians interested in the Gottman work. From the beginning, John and Julie have incorporated the best of other models in the work and encouraged CGTs to contribute to a growing understanding about how to best help couples. They have urged us all to bring our individual artistry, informed by science, to their work. Nancy is collaborative, by nature, so that appeals to her.

Starting in the late 1970’s, Nancy’s work has been about couples and romantic love: how people do love… not just how they “should” love. She videotaped all her clients doing everything all through the 1980s and she took copious notes on dating behaviors. She studied most of the models around, and then Nancy stumbled on the Gottman work in the late 1990s, she was in love with it immediately! It wasn’t armchair philosophy… It was/is, at its core, an empirically-based study of how people actually do love… how they do it gracefully and how they do it awkwardly.

Nancy has been a full-time clinician for over thirty years, twenty of which she also taught at Chapman University part-time, and she is a CAMFT Certified Supervisor for MFT Interns. She loves teaching, mentoring, and collaborating on case consultations. Nancy teaches Gottman Levels 1, 2, and 3 trainings and put on the Art & Science of Love Couple’s Workshop several times a year, all in Southern California.

You can contact Nancy directly to learn about her consultation pricing and more through her Gottman Referral Network profile here.

As a speaker and presenter he wants to help facilitate, and inspire other clinicians to blend the Gottman Method into their practice and realize the benefits of this wonderful modality. He has enjoyed presenting over 30 times in different Gottman trainings and workshops which include The Art and Science of Love Gottman Workshops as well as teaching Level 1, 2, and 3 Gottman Method to other clinicians, and delivering presentations at the Annual Gottman Conference, and ASL trainings. Along with his business partner, Darren Wilk, he has trained clinicians in Level 3 of the Gottman Method since 2012. His leadership roles and experience at The Gottman Institute includes being a Certified Gottman Therapist, Certified Gottman presenter for The Art and Science of Love, Level I, Level 2, and Level 3 Gottman Method Trainer, Gottman Consultant, and The Art and Science of Love Presenter Trainer.

“It is my goal to help clinicians worldwide gain confidence and skills with the Gottman Method as they become proficient with all the interventions and methods. In my trainings and presentations I create a positive, comfortable, and humour filled, environment which is conducive to learning. It is so gratifying to see clinicians, become excited about the Gottman Method and to know that I had a part in influencing that outcome and helping to grow the Gottman Community. I am so passionate about the Gottman Method that when I first learned about it, along with my business partner, we developed our entire practice, bestmarriages.ca around the Gottman Method.”

*Accepting New Certification Candidates*

Lawrence has been a Marriage and Family Therapist since 1991. After being introduced to the Gottman Method it has become a passion of his to use it with clients and to help other therapists integrate it into their practice. As a consultant Lawrence wants to help other therapists to blend the Sound Relationship House structure into their practice and realize the benefits of this wonderful modality. It is his goal to help Consultees gain confidence and skills with the Gottman Method as they become proficient with all the interventions. He tries to create a positive, comfortable, and humor filled, environment which is conducive to learning. Along with his business partner Darren Wilk, they have developed their entire practice, bestmarriages.ca around the Gottman Method.

Lawrence has enjoyed presenting several Art & Science of Love workshops as well as teaching Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 workshops to other clinicians.

He looks forward to collaboratively working with candidates as you have fun, learn, and grow together using the Gottman Method.

You can contact Lawrence directly to learn about his pricing and more through his Gottman Referral Network profile here.

While serving as Director of Professional Development at the Gottman Institute, Laura co-developed The Gottman Seven Principles Program together with then Clinical Director, Dr. David Penner, and authored The Seven Principles Companion Workbook. She continues as a Trainer for the program which has trained thousands of people to offer the Seven Principles Program in their communities, across six continents.

Laura is a charismatic and energetic speaker who’s love of life shines through her quirky and quick-witted presentations. Her transparency and authenticity is evident through her use of storytelling and examples of her own struggles in relationship with others. Laura is able to connect with audiences large and small, whether speaking to intimate groups or an audience of 900. Laura lives with her beloved and patient husband and their young son. She is honored to share the power of the Gottmans’ research with audiences around the world.

*Not Currently Accepting Speaking Engagements*

In his role as the Clinical Director, Dr. Penner managed clinical aspects of the Institute, including providing consultation to Certified Gottman Therapists and clinicians in training; selecting and training consultants for clinicians pursuing certification; training and supervising video reviewers who certify therapists in the Gottman Method; training and supervising roving therapists at couples workshops; overseeing quality control of new programs and products; and answering clinical questions from clinicians, researchers, the media, and the public.

Dave has practiced for over 35 years as an individual and couples therapist working in private practice, university, mental health and hospital settings.

*Accepting New Certification Candidates*

Caralee is a fully immersed Gottman Couples therapist and loves the emphasis on research from the beginning. She is a “show me the research” gal! As an LCSW, Caralee was first licensed in CA in 2002, then in CO in 2004. After working part time at an agency, she opened her private practice. In 2019, she expanded to a small group practice, where all of her fabulous clinicians use the Gottman Method as their primary methodology.

Caralee originally thought she would be working with children and adolescents, but soon learned that when the parents’ aren’t doing well, everything else was much harder. She searched for reliable, evidence based ways to work with parents/couples and found Dr. John Gottman in 2003, when she attended a Level 1 training with him. Caralee was hooked! Suddenly, couples work seemed doable and not so overwhelming! She used Level 1 for 6 years before taking Level 2 and then moved steadily towards being certified in 2013. Because Caralee had used the model for so many years, she finished certification in a relatively short time – less than a year. She always encourages people to use the tools, immerse yourself in the method, get familiar with it before entering the Certification Track, because of her own experience.

She had the opportunity to rove in Seattle a number of times, as the Gottman’s presented the “Art and Science of Love” couples workshop, and in 2014 Caralee was the first to bring it to CO, where she has presented it several times per year ever since. In 2017 she began training clinicians in the Gottman Method. She is a trainer for Levels 1, 2 and 3, which she loves doing – especially in person! In 2019, she took the trainings and the ASL to HI, as well.

Caralee has a sub-specialty working with couples in recovery for sexual compulsions/addictions/betrayals and is Certified in Partner Betrayal Trauma. She is a Certified Sex Addiction Recovery Therapist (SRT) through AASAT since 2014. Caralee is trained in EMDR and uses it frequently in her practice. She is also Certified in Discernment Counseling (2020) through the Dougherty Relationship Institute for “couples on the brink” of separation/divorce.

Caralee was nervous to start the Certification Track! As a verifiable “technophobe”, the idea of recording her sessions, editing, and sharing them was intimidating in itself, not to mention having someone else critique her work. However, she had a great experience, with a lot of support and encouragement, as well as clear guidelines on what to focus on to successfully reach certification. Caralee’s years as part of The Gottman Institute community has reinforced the supportive, encouraging experience she had with her consultant. Caralee’s hope is to offer an equally supportive, encouraging, and helpful experience to those with whom she consults, and continue to pass on the spirit of The Gottman Institute, from which she has so greatly benefited.

You can contact Caralee directly to learn about her consultation pricing and more through her Gottman Referral Network profile here.