Professor
210 Stouffer Hall
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA 15705
724-357-4533 — Campus Office
724-934-4746 — Home Office
bwitchel@iup.edu
Professional Information
Background and Experience
I am a professor of Counseling and have been a member of the department since 1986. I completed my doctoral degree at the University of Georgia in 1973. I am a Pennsylvania-licensed psychologist, a national certified counselor, and have practiced my version of gestalt therapy since 1971. I have had a variety of experiences working in inpatient and outpatient mental health settings and university counseling services, and have been in private practice since 1979. Contact with people (clients and professionals) in these settings resulted in my developing very strong beliefs about:
- the value of connecting with the person, their pain, and their joy (rather than only relating to diagnoses and symptoms)
- the value of sharing my own struggles and triumphs and joining with the person in their life journey
- how medication is often used as a quick fix, and how diagnosis can easily result in creating distance between people
- how too many mental health professionals are out of touch with their clients and not aware of their own stuff, either the importance of my own ongoing personal growth
I recall seeing the movie Patch Adams (starring Robin Williams) and being moved to tears and laughter while watching Patch struggle to maintain his humanness during graduate school. After searching the Web about Patch, I discovered a neat paper he wrote about the doctor-patient relationship. It’s called Friendship as Therapy. I invite you to click on the title to link to it.
I know something about ethical and legal issues in counseling, group therapy, marital and family counseling, and gestalt therapy, including dreamwork.
I have provided consultation to children and youth agencies, the courts, and other educational and human services agencies. I have provided continuing education workshops to agency and school personnel. I have been teaching the following courses: Group Counseling, Ethical and Legal Issues in Community Counseling, Group Practicum, Supervised Practicum, and Field Experience.
I am a member of the American Academy of Psychotherapists (AAP). AAP is a significant part of my professional and personal life. I recently wrote an article for Voices (the journal of the AAP) titled “Mentors, Music Teachers, and Psychotherapy.”
