Navigating Life Changes
“Throughout my career I have found myself working with people in transition. The kinds of issues my clients bring to my office inevitably have to do with change: preparation for marriage, dealing with the birth of a child, parenting struggles with children who have mysteriously transformed into adolescents, divorce, illness, or the death of loved ones. Each of these situations calls for adaptability and creativity in dealing with new and difficult emotional terrain.”
Joel Crohn, Ph.D.
Navigating Life Changes
“Throughout my career I have found myself working with people in transition. The kinds of issues my clients bring to my office inevitably have to do with change: preparation for marriage, dealing with the birth of a child, parenting struggles with children who have mysteriously transformed into adolescents, divorce, illness, or the death of loved ones. Each of these situations calls for adaptability and creativity in dealing with new and difficult emotional terrain.”
Joel Crohn, Ph.D., a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the Wright Institute, Berkeley, is a licensed clinical psychologist (PSY5735) specializing in couples and family therapy. Dr. Crohn has researched, written, and lectured nationally for mental health professionals and general audiences about cross-cultural issues in love and work for over 30 years. He is also an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Intermarriage: The Quiet Revolution
A quiet revolution has swept the world as millions of couples have defied ancient taboos to form intimate relationships with partners from other cultural, religious, and racial backgrounds. Like all couples, they work to understand one another and to create happy marriages. (read more)
Jewish Marriage and Family Issues
Jewish and interfaith relationships face many of the same challenges that affect all marriages in today’s world. The Jewish family, which a generation ago had a well-earned reputation for stability, has now become distressingly “normal.” Between one-third and one half of all new Jewish marriages will end in divorce. One-third of Jewish children will have to deal with the pain and confusion of their family coming apart. And many couples who don’t divorce have less than satisfying relationships. (read more)
Couples Therapy
Your relationship is important to you. It is important to us, too. Coming to a therapist can not only save your relationship, it can help it thrive. Find happiness and grow your love deeper through effective and proven conflict resolution and intimacy deepening skills with a therapist specializing in couples counseling and psychotherapy.
Effective Parenting and Family Therapy
We live in an era of insecure parents who frantically try to provide their children with “the best of everything.” They are deeply troubled when more and more of their children are angry, depressed, out of control, or “unmotivated. Mothers and fathers argue about limiting their children’s use of video games and social media. They wonder how to get their kids “off the screen,” to help around the house, or go outside and play. (read more)
“This important book combines modern social-scientific research and traditional Jewish wisdom to help couples resurrect the buried promises of friendship and responsibility, and the joy of love.”
—- Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis
Author of For Those Who Can’t Believe
“An excellent resource for partners who are seeking to understand the blend of their two cultures…I highly recommend this book.”
—– Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School.
University of California, Berkeley
BA in Psychology, (1968)
Wright Institute, Berkeley
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (1976)
Clinical TMS Society
Clinical Standards Committee Member
2016-2019
Marin County Psychological Association
Past President
UCLA School of Medicine, Northridge Family Medicine Residency Program
Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine
2006-2013
Crohn, J. “The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have.” California Psychologist. The California Psychological Association. Sacramento, CA. Jan.-Feb. 2006.
Crohn, J., Markman, H., Blumberg, S., & Levine, J. Fighting for Your Jewish Marriage: Preserving a Lasting Promise. Jossey-Bass/Wiley, San Francisco, 2000. (paperback edition published in 2001 as Beyond the Chuppah: A Jewish Guide to Happy Marriages.)
Crohn, J. “Intercultural Couples” in Revisioning Family Therapy: Race
Culture and Gender in Clinical Practice
(ed.) Monica McGoldrick. Guilford Press, N.Y. 1998
Crohn, J. “Asian Intermarriage: Love versus Tradition” in Working
With Asian Americans: A Guide for Clinicians.
(ed.) Evelyn Lee. Guilford Press, N.Y., 1998.
Crohn, J. “Interracial, Interethnic, and Interfaith Relationships.”
in Working With Couples. (ed.) Hilda Kessler & Irvin Yalom.
Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA. 1996.
Crohn, J. Mixed Matches: How to Create Successful Interracial, Interethnic, and Interfaith Relationships. Fawcett/Ballantine/Random House,
N.Y. 1995.
Crohn, J. & Fife, Linda “Integrating Content and Process in Programs of Outreach to the Intermarried.” in The Imperatives of Jewish
Outreach. (ed.) Egon Mayer. City University of New York. 1991.
Crohn, J. “Workshops for Interfaith Couples.” Journal of Jewish Communal Service. Kendall Park, N.J., Spring 1990.
Crohn, J. Ethnic Identity and Marital Conflict: Jews, Italians, & WASPs. (Monograph), 1986, American Jewish Committee, N.Y., N.Y.
Crohn, J. The Myth of the Melting Pot Marriage: Ethnotherapy with Jewish-Gentile Couples. (Videotape documentary). American Jewish Committee. N.Y., N.Y., 1986.
2014 Multidisciplinary treatment of depression using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Los Angeles County Psychological Association (with Sarah Randall, Psy.D.). Los Angeles, CA
2011 Food for Thought (A Collaborative Project with LAUSD on juvenile obesity). Igor Sapozhinov, MD, Sheryl Thouin, MPH, RD. UCLA 27th Multi-Campus Research Forum. Los Angeles (Faculty Advisor: Joel Crohn, Ph.D.)
2011 Subchorionic Hemorrhage: Using a Personal Medical Crisis and the Power of Social Media to Better Understand Patient Experience in Obstetric Crises. Arlet Shamalian, D.O. UCLA 27th Multi-Campus Research Forum. Los Angeles (Faculty Advisor: Joel Crohn, Ph.D.)
2010 Mixed Matches: How to Create Successful Intercultural Relationships (with Farzana Nayani, M.A.). Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA.
2009 Mixed Matches: Interracial, Interethnic, and Interfaith Couples Therapy. Los Angeles County Psychological Association Convention Workshop. Los Angeles, CA.
2009 Women with Broken Hearts: The Adult Legacy of Abuse. Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Grand Rounds (with Sharon Okonkwo-Holmes, M.D.). Northridge, CA
2009 Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science: Using HIV/AIDS Patients’ Personal Narratives to Enhance Physician Awareness and Medical Care. Kevin Liao, D.O. UCLA 25th Multi-Campus Research Forum. Los Angeles (Faculty Advisor: Joel Crohn, Ph.D.)
2008 Living With Forgetting: Oral Histories with Alzheimer’s Patients. UCLA Family Medicine Multi-Campus Research Day. (With Cindy Yang, M.D.), Northridge, CA
2007 Resident Burnout: Multisite Collaborative Interventions. Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine. Chicago, IL.
2007 Time Management in Family Practice: An Issue of Balancing Competing Values. Society for Teachers of Family Medicine Faculty Development Conference, UCLA Medical School, Los Angeles, CA.
2006 Fighting For Your Marriage—The PREP Program (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement) – Training the Trainers in diverse communities. Federally Funded “Healthy Marriage Initiative” training of community leaders in the PREP approach, developed at the University of Denver by Howard Markman, Scott Stanley, and Susan Blumberg. Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. NY, NY.
2005 Transforming Parenting, Transforming Communities: The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have. (Faculty and Organizer of Conference Bringing mental health professionals, clergy, & educators, and parents together to create “parenting communities.” Belvedere, CA.
2005 Successful Relationships. Young Presidents Organization.
Phoenix, AZ.
2000-2006 Marriage Education in Community Settings. Annual Smartmarriages Conferences (Washington, D.C., Orlando, Denver, Reno, Dallas)
2004 How Families, Schools, and Communities Can Raise Ethical Children. Keynote for the combined Marin County Psychological Association, Northern California Psychiatric Association, and Marin Association of Marriage and Family Therapists Annual Mental Health meeting.
2002 Relationship Education with Prison Populations. (keynote for annual meeting of all California prison chaplains). Associated Chaplains in California State Service. Concord, CA
2000 Fighting for Your Marriage (keynote) Building Jewish Bridges. Lehrhaus Judaica. Berkeley, CA.
1997 Mixed Matches: Working With Cross-Cultural Couples, Families, and Organizations. Esalen Institute. Big Sur, CA.
1997 Dealing with the Challenge of Interfaith and Interracial Relationships. Jewish Family and Children’s Services. New Orleans
1996 Working with Cross-Cultural Couples and Families Kaiser Permanente: Department of Psychiatry. Redwood City, CA.
1995 Intermarriage and a Changing American Society. Leadership Washington and Women of Washington. Washington, D.C.
1995 Cultural Competence in Behavioral Healthcare. (with Evelyn Lee). California School of Professional Psychology.
Los Angeles, CA.
1994 Working with Cross-Cultural Couples. First Hospital of Vallejo. Visiting Lecturer. Vallejo,CA.
1991 Couples Therapy. Napa State Hospital: Child Psychiatry Residency Program. Napa, CA.
1990 Cultural Issues in Marital and Family Relationships. San Francisco General Hospital, Grand Rounds. Department of Psychiatry. San Francisco, CA.
1988 Dealing with Diversity [Workshop faculty]. Human Rights Resource Center. San Rafael, CA
1986 Cross-Cultural Communication Skills for Human Service Personnel. University of California Extension. San Francisco, CA.