A Letter From the Dean & CEO

A number of years ago, I came to New York-like so many do-to pursue a career in the theatre. Acting, as some may know from experience, is an exciting but difficult way to make a living. I was fortunate to find work, even appearing on Broadway as a lead in a hit show. But there were two things that grounded me during my days in the theatre. One was weekly psychotherapy, not always easy to afford on a young actor's salary, and the other was my deep involvement in a church.

When I ultimately decided I needed to move on from the theatre life and looked around for a new career, I was naturally drawn to something involving both religion and psychotherapy. That's when I discovered the doctoral program in psychiatry and religion at Union Theological Seminary. But I didn't want to be just an academic, I also wanted to do clinical work. After exploring many psychotherapy training institutes, I chose Blanton-Peale. I was drawn to Blanton-Peale because the training focuses not only on psychological theory and practice, but also on what I have come to call the "spiritual dimensions of clinical work."

I entered and completed both programs and, to make a long story short, am now sitting in the CEO's chair-some might call it the "hot-seat"-at Blanton-Peale. It is an exhilarating and, at times, daunting job.

About 70 years ago this country and city were mired in the midst of the daunting Great Depression. As a depth psychologist, I've often thought that a very interesting term, because, it has a double meaning. The term "Great Depression" not only characterized the state of the economy at that time, but also the emotional, psychological and spiritual status of many people. People were greatly depressed during the Great Depression. And this was a time before Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft.

In the mid-1930's the Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, senior minister of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, sought about for a psychiatrist with whom he could partner to help counsel and heal some of the more troubled minds and souls under his care. He was introduced to Dr. Smiley Blanton who was the son of a Tennessee preacher and a psychiatrist who had analyzed with Sigmund Freud in Vienna. Dr. Freud apparently had not knocked religion out of Smiley, however, because he had been praying to meet a minister who was not adverse to psychiatry with whom he could partner.

So whether Peale found Blanton or Blanton Peale, or someone on a "higher level" brought them together, it matters not. They found each other and began a pioneering partnership in healing-integrating religious wisdom and psychological understanding of the human personality. Over the years, many thousands have benefited from that partnership.

So what is Blanton-Peale today? We are, first of all, a state licensed clinic serving those in need of counseling from all walks of life. Our residents and staff therapists work with single moms, families, stock brokers, floor traders, lawyers, ministers, actors, theatre producers, those that are temporarily or chronically unemployed, to name a few. And, by the way, they do so in twelve languages! Our annual fundraising efforts allow us to offer counseling on a sliding scale, for we do not believe someone should be turned away from this important care because of a lack of funds.

Secondly, Blanton-Peale is a post-graduate training institute with programs in pastoral psychotherapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and marriage and family counseling. We also provide pastoral care training for ministers in English as well as Korean. We are also seeking to become a degree-granting institution in New York State and to offer a masters degree in Marriage and Family, Creative Arts Therapy, and a new, Psy.D. program which will focus upon depth psychology and religion.

Integrating our solid grounding in psychological theory and wisdom from the religious traditions along with techniques from the expressive arts of theatre, music and dance, we hope that this program will attract more of this city's vibrant arts community to Blanton-Peale, both as clients as well as residents. The partnership that Smiley and Norman began so many years ago is alive and well. Our motto comes from St. Iraneus, who said "the glory of God is the human being fully alive." In helping people become more fully alive by overcoming that which is holding them down, we hope that we are not just doing good, but that we are helping to glorify God.

Kathryn Madden, Ph.D.
Dean & CEO