Susan Newton, PhD
Facilitator, Project Manager,
Core Team Member Creating...
Private Practice in Clinical Psychology

Susan joined the Creating... team in 2005. As a Core Team Member working in Creating's Organizational Development area, Susan exercises her own strong organizational skills while serving as Project Manager for Offsite Trainings sponsored by corporate clients and also gives a capable hand around the office as need be.

She also works as a Facilitator of courses in Creating's Leadership Training Curriculum for corporate clients, tapping her skills and training as both educator and psychologist. Her skills and training as researcher / consultant and editor are utilized when she works on course development and on preparation of course materials for presentation. In addition to her work with Creating..., she is in private practice as a psychologist, serving the international community of Tokyo.

Susan has gathered rich and eclectic experience working in a variety of fields, settings, and capacities. Long interested in the arts and in psychology, her aesthetic sense is integral to her life both personally and professionally. Her first Master's was in Interdisciplinary Studies in Creative Arts. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies in psychology, she worked for 12 years in the museum field, serving as designer / preparator of many varied exhibitions and co-curator for a few. Following a sabbatical year working in her studio, she began her doctoral program in transpersonal psychology. Beginning her clinical training at the Transpersonal Counseling Center in Palo Alto, she was invited to stay on following licensure and worked there for 5 years. As an experienced editor, she assists others through the process of dissertation writing, as well as with articles, book proposals, and other materials. Deeply committed to education that engages all of one's body / mind / spirit, she has created and taught courses in cross-cultural communication following her arrival in Japan.

Susan earned her PhD from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (Palo Alto, CA) prior to licensure as a Psychologist in California. Previous education granted her a Master's in Counseling Psychology (from ITP), and a Master's in Interdisciplinary Studies in Creative Arts (from San Francisco State University). Her undergraduate work was done at Shimer College (then in Mt. Carroll, IL), which included an exchange year at Oxford, England, and also granted her a Teaching Credential.

Recently she completed Dr. Stephen Schuitevoerder's 5-day Process Work / Group Facilitation Workshop (Tokyo, Japan), and the year prior, a 5-day Residential Group Action Workshop with Luk Peters, Martin and Francoise Ringer (Tokyo, Japan).

Susan is both a Board Member and Clinical Member of International Mental Health Professionals Japan (IMHPJ). She serves as IMHPJ's editor for the Fresh Perspective column in the Daily Yomuri newspaper in Tokyo, and is also a frequent contributor to the column. She has been an invited presenter at two of IMHPJ's Annual Conferences. For more on her approach and training as a clinician, please see www.imhpj.org and look for her in the list of therapists. Susan is also a professional member of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and the California Psychological Association.

Since coming to Japan over 7 years ago, her study of Aikido continues to deepen in its home context. She is also a student of Toda-ha Buko-ryu naginatajutsu. Before beginning Aikido as part of her doctoral program, she was a sabre fencer, competing actively on the US national circuit. Her doctoral dissertation entitled, Exploring the Interstices: The Space Between in the Body/Mind Disciplines of Aikido and Fencing (1996) looked at how senior practitioners in both disciplines experienced the space between themselves in highly charged situations and how such experience may be useful elsewhere in one's life. Her post-doctoral, lived research continues!

Susan contributed "Iterative Reflections" to William Braud & Rosemarie Anderson (Eds., 1998), Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences: Honoring Human Experience (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage). She authored the Instructor's Manual and Test Bank to accompany Personality and Personal Growth (4th ed., 1998), with the collaboration of Robert Frager & James Fadiman, authors of the text (New York: Addison Wesley Longman).

Voice of the Participant:

• "Very knowledgeable. Quite crisp while presenting; can be elaborate." (Leading High Performing Teams)
• "She is good at leading and helping you to coach in the best possible manner." (Leading High Performing Teams)
• "The facilitation of why/why-how/how for our team was helpful." (Leading High Performing Teams)

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