Offering couples therapy intensives in Las Vegas, Nevada
Practice Values
My interest and passion for couples and family therapy began with my graduate school mentor, Dr. Ronald Kokes. Dr. Kokes was a gifted and accomplished family therapist and prolific family researcher.
He encouraged me to focus my dissertation on couples: He suggested following couples over time as they marry, to study how relationships develop and to learn what predicts marital satisfaction over time.
I learned through my research that empathy was a key ingredient in marital satisfaction. When a partner perceives empathy from their spouse, marital satisfaction during the first year of marriage is high. Later studies confirmed this finding during the third year of marriage, as well. Dr. Kokes also served as my internship supervisor at the University of California San Francisco – Fresno Medical Education Program, and he supervised my first clinical work with couples. He gave me my start as a couples therapist. Our friendship lasted for decades until Dr. Kokes passed away in 2009.
I was first introduced to Dr. John Gottman’s research while completing my doctoral dissertation on marital satisfaction in the mid 1980s. Over the years, I kept in touch with the literature on couples therapy and in particular Gottman’s research on predicting divorce as a way of informing my clinical work with couples.
In the late 1990s, I first heard John Gottman present his research to clinicians and, after taking Level 1 Gottman Training, I was immediately hooked.
By 2006, I got Certification in the Gottman Method and was certified as a Gottman Workshop Leader, Trainer, and Consultant. I’m proud to be one of a handful of Senior-Level Master Gottman Trainers and Consultants worldwide.
I love this work. I have a deep passion to help couples to survive their toughest times, and restore their deep lasting connection and hope.
Work Summary
I’ve been a practicing clinical psychologist for over 30 years: as an academic, a supervisor, and as a Senior Master Trainer for the Gottman Institute.
I’ve worked in a variety of clinical settings including inpatient, outpatient, partial hospitalization, and community mental health settings. For more than 20 years, I’ve been a private practitioner, specializing in couples and family therapy.
I’ve served as Adjunct Faculty at the California School of Professional Psychology – Fresno from 1989 to 1994 where I taught Marriage and Family Research and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on the graduate level. I’ve also chaired four doctoral dissertations in the area of Marriage and the Family, and acted as clinical supervisor to doctoral students in clinical psychology in both externships and in APA accredited internships for over 15 years.
Personally Speaking
I practiced in Maryland for 23 years before relocating my practice to Henderson, Nevada. Henderson is a quiet suburb just outside of Las Vegas. We moved here in 2016 to be closer to our grown children and family in both Henderson and in California. My daughter lives in Los Angeles.
As empty nesters, my wife Peggy and I are enjoying this area of the country. It’s a much warmer area of the country than our former home in suburban Maryland (just outside of Washington DC).
Peggy is also a therapist. She graciously agreed to move back East so that I could be closer to my family in the 1990s.
Now it was time to return the favor.
Our move out west brings Peggy back to her roots.
I love traveling, hiking, and visiting the many wonderful National Parks out west including the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Yosemite.
I am a passionate college football fan, and I am an avid reader. Stirred by Carl Sagan decades ago, I love reading about astronomy, the cosmos, and science in general.
I also have a fondness for the architecture and design of Frank Lloyd Wright. When we lived in Maryland, our favorite destination was the Wright’s Fallingwater House.
Now living out west, we visit Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.
We’re just getting started.
We are looking forward to visiting more Frank Lloyd Wright homes and buildings in the near future.
My clinical office even has some Mission style furniture and lamps as well as designs reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work!
Office
My wife and I practice together in an attractive four-office suite with two other therapists in this quiet, peaceful, suburban setting.
Yet surprisingly for our visitors, our offices are only 20 minutes from both McCarran Airport and the Las Vegas Strip!
Las Vegas, as I’m sure you know, is an incredibly high-energy tourist spot, with world-class entertainment and dining, and 24/7 excitement.
Publications
Wolfe, Scott, Guest Editor, (Spring 2014) Maryland Psychologist, Special Issue: Couples Therapy.
