PRESIDENT
Kathryn Benes, Ph.D.
Falls Church, VA

Dr. Kathryn Benes is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of the Training Clinic at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences (IPS) in Arlington, Virginia.

Dr. Benes developed a nationally recognized, diocesan-wide mental health program that ultimately became a doctoral-level psychology internship site in the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Psychology, an institution accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). This program is currently the only APA-accredited internship site in the nation that is specifically designed to train psychologists from a Catholic perspective.

PAST PRESIDENT
Sandra H. McKay BSN, M.Ed, LMFT
Duluth, GA

Sandra McKay is a graduate of Emory University School of Nursing in 1969 and Georgia State University School of Education in Counseling in 1975. She is a cradle Catholic who has been married for 26 years and has two grown children.

Sandra has been in private practice as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for 26 years also contracting with Catholic Social Services. She has worked at inpatient settings for Georgia Mental Health Institute, Emory Clinic, Peachtree Parkwood Psychiatric Hospital, including administrative positions in staff development and hospital administration. Sandra has designed and implemented Psychiatric Nursing programs at Mary Hitchcock Hospital at Dartmouth College, as well as Dekalb College.

Sandra taught psychology in the college setting, and has authored and taught widely used programs in her diocese for couples’ enhancement, men’s and women’s issues, premarital preparation, and parenting. She was on the Bishop’s Advisory Board for six years during the scandals and assisted in writing the prevention manuals for her diocese.

As president co-founder of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association (CPA), she has great hope that mental health professionals, academicians, and theologians will come together in the Catholic Psychotherapy Association to follow the advice given by Pope John Paul II to utilize the good that has been discovered within psychology, while never abandoning the wisdom and truth as taught by the Holy Catholic Church.

TREASURER
Thomas Spudic, Ph.D.
Roswell, GA

Dr. Tom Spudic has a wide range of both personal interests and clinical experience. After receiving an undergraduate degree in the Russian language (Beloit College), he went on to receive his Master’s and Doctorate Degrees in Clinical Psychology from Southern Illinois University (Carbondale). His professional education was interrupted by military service and he spent two years living in the Bangkok, Thailand.

Dr. Spudic has been a licensed Psychologist since 1980. He worked as both Psychologist and Psychology Director in Connecticut (Developmental Disabilities) for roughly ten years. He then went into private practice. He has also worked extensively in the Correctional system, in both Connecticut and Georgia. His positions in the Georgia Correctional system included Consulting Psychologist, Clinical Director and Regional Clinical Director in several prisons. He has done testing in the prison system, for the Archdiocese of Atlanta (Deacons and Seminarians), and in Developmental Disabilities. He has also done work and some writing in sport psychology. For the last several years he has been in private practice doing individual and marital therapy, as well as Psychological testing.

At a personal level, he has had a very lively interest in public affairs, amateur wrestling, and the Russian language. He has been married for forty years and currently has two grandchildren, with two more on the way.

The unifying theme of his professional life has been strengthening the family and society, through marital therapy, individual therapy, group therapy and testing. As a co-founder of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association (CPA) his unifying vision is that which comes from Christ through the Catholic Church. He is especially passionate about strengthening marriage, as a public, social and religious institution.

SECRETARY
Christina P. Lynch, Psy.D.
Denver, CO

Dr. Christina Lynch is a licensed Clinical Psychologist. She is the Staff Psychologist for St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Lynch serves over 100 men from 15 Dioceses around the country. In addition, to providing psychological services Dr. Lynch is responsible for the curriculum development and teaching of the Chaste Celibacy Program at the seminary.

Each summer, Dr. Lynch serves as adjunct faculty for Spiritual Formation for Seminarians from around the country at the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF) at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. This holistic human formation program helps seminarians deepen their appreciation for the gift of celibacy.

Dr. Lynch received her Masters of Science degree from the Institute for Psychological Sciences (IPS) in Arlington, VA. In December of 2005 she was awarded the first Doctorate of Clinical Psychology from IPS after completing her Internship at Catholic Social Services in the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Psychology which is currently the only APA-accredited internship site in the nation that is specifically designed to train psychologists from a Catholic perspective.
Dr. Lynch and her husband, Patrick have been married 18 years.

BOARD MEMBER
Suzanne Baars, M.A.
Irving, TX
Suzanne Baars, M.A., is a licensed professional counselor and marriage and family therapist in Dallas, Texas, where she operates her private practice, In His Image Christian Counseling. Sue has worked extensively in the field of counseling since 1985 in both hospital and outpatient settings, and bases her work on the integration of the Christian anthropology of St. Thomas Aquinas with the treatment of a variety of problems, among them Emotional Deprivation Disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and scrupulosity. She is also a popular presenter at conferences around the country, and has been a frequent guest on EWTN’s Living His Life Abundantly.

She often presents the work of her late father, psychiatrist Conrad Baars, a pioneer in the field of Catholic psychology, which is central to her own practice of counseling. Sue has recorded some of her lectures, Made in His Image: Healing and Wholeness for Living the Affirming Life, The Abode of Love: Developing the Heart, and Emotional Maturity and the Spiritual Life. Along with her colleague, Bonnie Shayne, she has revised and updated several of her father’s books.

BOARD MEMBER
Art Bennett, LMFT
Bethesda, MD

Art Bennett is the manager of the Employee Assistance Programs for Triune Health Group which provides counseling, training, referral, coaching and consultation for organizations. He is also the Director of the Alpha Omega Clinics in Maryland and Virginia which integrate psychology with the Catholic Faith. He is a marriage and family therapist and was a vice president for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) where he managed international mental health programs in Europe, South America, North America and Asia for the military and commercial industries.

He and his wife, Laraine, have written two books on the temperaments called THE TEMPERAMENT GOD GAVE YOU and THE TEMPERAMENT GOD GAVE YOUR SPOUSE. He is the author of Men and Work, a training program which helps employees and leaders integrate John Paul II’s vision of work, respect and dignity. He also authored the website www.unityrestored.com which provides information to combat pornography addiction. He has given talks throughout North America, Europe, and Asia on communication, motivation, team building, and integrating our professional and personal life.

BOARD MEMBER
Ann Howe, Ph.D.
Roswell, GA

Dr. Ann Greif Howe graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and obtained a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She completed a Clinical Internship at Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Post-Doctoral Fellowship and Advanced Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Dr. Howe was on the faculty and staff of the Austen Riggs Center from 1986 until 2000. She was a supervisor of Post-Doctoral and Psychiatric Fellows, supervised psychological testing, participated in the Center's Follow-Along Study of former patients, and was a member of the clinical staff seeing patients in long-term psychoanalytic treatment.

Dr. Howe has co-edited a book on the treatment of refractory self-injuring behavior, and has published multiple papers on therapy and personality disorders. She has recently presented papers at the Society of Catholic Social Scientists annual meetings, was director of the Village of St. Joseph Counseling Service for Catholic Charities of Atlanta until February of 2009 and has been a founding member of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association. She is currently in private practice in Roswell, Georgia.

BOARD MEMBER
William Nordling, Ph.D.
Crystal City, VA

Dr. Nordling, a licensed psychologist, serves as the Chair of the Department of Psychology and a founding faculty member of the Institute for the Psychological Sciences - a graduate program in clinical psychology which integrates a Catholic view of the person, marriage and family into its training model.

Dr. Nordling has been active in scholarship, education, training, and supervision in the areas of child, marriage and family therapy, and more specifically in Catholic approaches to psychotherapy.

Dr. Nordling has served on numerous boards related to the mental health professions.

BOARD MEMBER
Maureen O’Connell
Cary, North Carolina

Maureen O’Connell is a Licensed Professional Counselor. In 2002, she received a Master of Science degree in Clinical Psychology from the Institute for Psychological Sciences (IPS) in Arlington, VA. In 2006, she received a Master of Arts degree in Counseling from Marymount University in Arlington, VA.

Maureen has six years experience in the field of mental health and has worked as a high school counselor, inpatient psychiatric therapist, crisis phone counselor, and outpatient therapist. She specializes in working with adult individuals and couples in the areas of marriage/relationship issues, depression, anxiety, grief & loss, post-abortion stress, and other unresolved personal and family issues. Maureen’s passion is helping clients find deep, inner healing and happiness by integrating the therapeutic process with a Catholic vision of the human person and human flourishing. She strives to let the Divine Physician guide her work as a therapist and bring healing to each client.

Maureen also has volunteer experience as a crisis pregnancy counselor and has helped facilitate post-abortion healing retreats for women and men.

She currently spends most of her days fulfilling her vocation as a mother by staying home with her two young sons; however, she balances this by working one day a week at a nearby private practice in Cary, NC. Maureen and her husband, Patrick have been married almost 4 years, have two young sons, and are expecting a daughter in July 2010.