Professor
210 Stouffer Hall
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA 15705
724-357-2306 — Campus Office
412-252-2450 — Home Office
bwitchel@iup.edu
Professional Information
Background and Experience
I am a professor of Counseling and have been a member of the Department of Counseling since 1986. I completed my doctoral degree at the University of Georgia in 1973. I am a Pennsylvania-licensed psychologist and 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.” This paper can be found at “Friendship as Therapy: The Doctor-Patient Relationship.”
I know something about ethical and legal issues in counseling, group therapy, marital and family counseling, grief work, non-drug oriented mental health 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, Counseling Across the Lifespan, Ethical and Legal Issues in Community Counseling, Grief Counseling, Gestalt Therapy, Supervised Practicum, and Field Experience.
I am a member of the American Academy of Psychotherapists, the American Counseling Association, and the American Psychological Association, and recently joined the Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education, and Living, founded by Peter Breggin, MD. I have written articles and made presentations related to the Use of Music, Imagery, and Psychotherapy.
