Bio

Dr. Maureen O'Hara is Professor of Psychology, National University, La Jolla, CA, President, International Futures Forum-US, President, Meridian Institute for Governance, Leadership, Learning and the Future and President Emerita, Saybrook University, San Francisco. Maureen is a a boundary shifter. She was born into a British working class family and began her career as a research biologist. After moving to the US she changed fields completing her doctorate in human development and psychology with American psychologist Dr. Carl R. Rogers. She went on to work with Rogers for 20 years helping develop the Person-Centered Approach to psychotherapy and large group process and training psychotherapists and counselors world -wide. From 1977 to 1987 she trained psychotherapists in person-centered gestalt therapy in Brazil in collaboration with Brazilian psychologists. After 1987 her work began to focus on larger scale issue of social change, leadership, taking on a futures orientation. As a founding member of the International Futures Forum she has worked in an international and interdisciplinary community of practice to explore the psychological implication of frame changing transformations underway. Her more recent work has explored the psychological impact of large scale cultural shifts and global threats; the dark side of virtue driven organizations; the cultural role of higher education accreditation, the limitations of “subjective well being measures” such as “happy planet indices” and “gross national happiness” measures as alternatives for GDP. Maureen is a life- long educator and is a frequent speaker and consultant nationally and internationally on the interpenetration of culture and psyche. Honors include the Donald N. Michael Award, Carl Rogers Award from APA, Distinguished Clinician, California Association for Marriage and family Therapy, and Scholar of the Year at National University. Maureen was elected President of the Society for Humanistic Psychology, Div 32 of the APA; President of the Association of Humanistic Psychology; Distinguished Clinical Member of the California Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Fellow, Meridian Institute on Governance, Leadership Learning and the Future, and founding member of the International Futures Forum in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Selected Publications

O’Hara, Maureen and Leicester, Graham (2012) Dancing at the Edge — Competence, Culture and Organization in the 21st Century, Triarchy Press ~ International Futures Forum, ISBN: 978-1-908009-98
http://bit.ly/EdgeDancing; EXTRACT; Letcutre flyer

Maureen O'Hara, (1983), Em Busca Da Vida, Summus, Brasil,

Maureen O'Hara, (2007), Handbook of Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counselling, Palgrave, co-edited with Cooper, O'Hara, Schmid and Wyatt.

Maureen O'Hara, (2009), Ten things to do in a conceptual emergency, co-authored with Graham Leicester. PDF