Donald B. Beere   |  Retired

email:    donbeere@charter.net

                         

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I was a full-time faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Central Michigan University for 29 years. I worked my way through the ranks, eventually becoming a full professor. The department was quite large, over 40 members, and the clinical unit numbered at first 6 and then 7. The clinical unit offered the first doctoral degree in the university, a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD). In the early 70s, the PsyD was a new degree, and CMU's was the first approved in the country -- although it was the second to start, due to a delay at the state level. All of the clinical faculty were also practicing psychologists -- an almost unheard of training situation and one which made our program unique in the nation for 20 years.

I divide my almost 30 years as a professor into 10 year intervals marking different phases of my professional development.  

During the first 10 years, I figured out how to teach both graduates and undergraduates. This was never finished: I continually updated and refined what I was doing. Also during this first 10, I solidified my graduate-school clinical training through my part-time clinical practice, by teaching clinical courses, and by providing clinical supervision to graduate students. 

During the second 10 years, I expanded my knowledge and skill base. I developed expertise in phenomenological philosophy and psychology. I developed expertise in hypnosis. I taught a course in non-traditional therapeutic techniques using as a source the work of Tarthang Tulku, a Tibetan Buddhist. His book
Time, Space and Knowledge, a synthesis of Buddhism, Western philosophy and science, was one of the texts.

During the third 10 years, my clinical skills were more solid, which improved my teaching, supervising and practice. I developed an expertise in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming (EMDR). Three of my students did the first dissertations on EMDR in the USA. I developed expertise in the Dissociative Disorders. I began doing research, presenting and publishing. My colleagues elected me to be the Director of Clinical Training (DCT) in CMU's psychology department -- a position I held until I retired. I became a Site Visitor for the  American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation (1997 - 2006). I was also a Delegate and Faculty Representative to the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (1994 - 1998).

Throughout my 29  years at CMU, I taught graduate and/or undergraduate classes every semester. The speciffic classes changed periodically so that, by the end of my academic career, I had taught 6 different undergraduate classes and 11 different graduate classes. I chaired 16 dissertations and served as a committee member on 11 others. From the beginning of my career as a psychologist, I have coordinated and sponsored workshops by experts for professionals and the lay community, and I have personally led many workshops for both the community and for professionals.

Some of my interests allowed me to make meaningful and useful connections between different disciplines. I saw a clear connection between the ideas and practices of Tarthang Tulku and understanding people and how they change. The dissociative disorders have largely been ignored by mental health practitioners, yet they are diagnosable in 10% of the population.  As a result, developing a specialty in the dissociative disorders became a significant and important focus for my functioning as a clinical psychologist. Although EMDR was largely unknown when I first began using it, I found it clinically powerful and profoundly helpful for my clients. Now, 25 years later, it has the strongest research support of any of the trauma treatments, except possibly exposure. Phenomenology, a philosophical approach focusing on experience-itself, adds significantly to the typical approach of focusing on  "objective empirical data" and provides an additional and complementary research approach. I found that these alternative approaches enriched my understanding and perspective on mainstream psychology.

Past Licenses & Certifications
Past positions in professional organizations

Previous Membership in Professional Organizations
Workshops & Presentations
Publications & Reviewer for Professional Journals
Presentations

Past Licenses & Certifications

Diplomate in Clinical Psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology (1996 - 2013)

Licensed Psychologist– Michigan (1976 - 2002)

Licensed Psychologist – Kentucky (September 7, 2001 - 2013)

Listed in the National Register of Health Care Providers in Psychology (1978 - 2013)


EMDR Facilitator (1998 - 2013; Completed Level II training in 1992)

Certified Therapist and Consultant in EMDR  (1998 - 2013)

Certificate of Professional Qualification in Psychology, Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, (2001 - 2013)

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Past positions in professional organizations

Board of Directors, International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD, 1999-2002)

  • Membership Committee, ISSD (1990 - 2002; Chair, 2000)
  • Committee on Scientific Consensus, ISSD (November 1990 - 2001)
  • Committee for Professional Liaison (June 2001- 2002)

Site Visitor, American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation (1997 - 2005) 

Delegate and Faculty Representative to National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (1994-1998)

EMDR Network Coordinator for Michigan. Coordinated, led and participated in several meetings per year in E. Lansing. (1994 - 1997)

Executive Board, Michigan Psychological Association. (1973-1974)

  • Ad Hoc Committee on Continuing Education, Michigan Psychological Association. (Chair, 1973-74)
  • Midwest Regional Committee on Continuing Education, American Association of State Psychological Boards. (1972-1974)

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Previous Membership in Professional Organizations

American Psychological Association  

Division of Clinical Psychology
Division of Philosophical Psychology
Division of Independent Practitioners
Division of Humanistic Psychology

Michigan Psychological Association

Kentucky Psychological Association

International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies

International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing International Association (Charter Member)  

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