Trust Counts

Trust Counts
...Community in Dialogue
Who We Are
Barbara R. Krasner, PhD
Psychotherapist

I am a native Philadelphian who lives in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania with my husband, David, an artist. We try to stay engaged with each other, and with our children and grandchildren, southern and northern alike.
I studied political science and philosophy at Beaver College (now Arcadia University), attended Bryn Mawr College, and earned a Ph.D. in religion and psychology under the tutelage of Maurice Friedman at Temple University. My clinical training was under the tutelage of Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy in the Department of Family Therapy at Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute (EPPI).
I was a case worker for the Philadelphia Department of Public Assistance, a field worker in fair housing for the American Friends
Service Committee, a co-director at Wellsprings Ecumenical Centerspawned by First Methodist Church of Germantown, co-ordinator for Clergy and Lay Advocates for Hospital Abortion Performance at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, a consultant and trainer in interpersonal relations for the Human Systems Council in Philadelphia, associate director for Community Outreach at EPPI, and director of the Center for Contextual Therapy & Allied Studies. I currently practice intergenerational, trust-based therapy in King of Prussia.
I taught at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, at Goddard University, at LaSalle Graduate Department of Religion and at Hahnemann School of Medicine in the Department of Mental Health Sciences - all in Philadelphia.
I took part in social justice movements, protests in the North and South, Fair Housing efforts in King of Prussia and Philadelphia, involvement in the Benjamin Banneker Urban Center for education, housing and job skills, in Clergy and Layman Concerned for the War in Vietnam, in the Arab-Israeli Research and Relations Project, and in Women in Transition.
I traveled the world to teach and to learn. Each time, I returned to my life, family and work more committed to “press forward honoring reality.” I am a member of the Community in Dialogue, “a gang of seven,” whose overriding passion is to embody and inspirit dialogue that renews trust in the service of justice.
Publications:
● “Engagement: The Strict Sacrament of Dialogue”, contributed to Engaging in Genuine Dialogue:
Maurice Friedman’s Interdisciplinary Humanism, by Kenneth Paul Kramer (to be published),
Pickwick Press, 2010.
● With Joyce, Austin J., Truth, Trust and Relationships: Healing Interventions in Contextual Therapy,
New York Brunner/Mazel, 1995.
● With Boszormenyi-Nagy, Ivan, Between Give and Take: A Clinical Guide to Contextual Therapy,
1986.
● With Boszormenyi-Nagy, Ivan, “Trust-based Therapy: A Contextual Approach,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 767-775,
1980.
● “Trustworthiness, The Primal Family Resource,” Family Resources, (Ed.) Mark Karpel, P.G. Sholevar, New York: Guilford Press,
1986.
● With Cotroneo, Margaret, “A Contextual Approach to Child Custody Decisions,” The Handbook of Marriages and Marital Therapy,
(Ed.) P.G. Sholevar, New York: Spectrum Publications, 1980.
● With Filing J., Volpicelli, J, & Krasner, K.J., A Treatment Manual for Cocaine Dependent New Mothers. Published jointly by
University of Pennsylvania and Contextual Management Consultants, 1997.
● Torah and Daily Life: A Jewish-Christian Dialogue, Stoughton, Mass: Packard Manse Papers1965; Foundations 9(2): 118-132,
1966.
● With Shapiro, Alexander, “Trustbuilding Initiatives in the Rabbinic Community,” Conservative Judaism, 1987.
● With Cotroneo, Margaret “Addiction, Alienation and Parenting,” Nursing Clinics of North America, II(3): 517-525, 1970.
● With Cotroneo, Margaret, “Abortion and Problems in Decision-Making,” Journal of Marriage and Family Counseling, Vol. III,
(January 1977), 69-76.
● Questing for Trustworthy Existence, Journal of Christian Healing, Vol.8, No.2/Fall 1986.