An Illinois
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (L.C.P.C.), and a Certified
Rehabilitation Counselor (C.R.C.), he has worked over twenty-five years in
the areas of mental health, substance abuse, education and leadership skills, covering a range of age populations, including teens, adults
and seniors.
Robert Silverman completed his graduate internship in the fall semester of 1979 with psychiatrist Raymond
Robertson, M.D., in Westmont, Illinois (1922-2007). Dr. Robertson worked with adults
and families at the Riveredge psychiatric hospital and in his private
practice. Besides being the Clinical Director of the hospital's intensive
adolescent unit, Ray (as he liked to be called) was also a
Gestalt therapist
(link)
with a private practice
assisting clients develop what psychologist
Abraham Maslow termed
"Self-Actualization". Dr.
Robertson was a master therapist. Having worked with
Frederick (Fritz) Perls
(link)
he utilized the self-awareness methods
of Gestalt therapy not only with individual clients, but especially in his multiple, weekly therapy groups
and group therapeutic weekends. After completing this internship, Robert Silverman received further training
in the self-awareness methods of Gestalt Therapy and today uses these, along with cognitive-behavioral
therapeutic methods, in his own counseling practice.
Robert Silverman earned a Master of Fine Art's degree (M.F.A.) in
Creative
Writing from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, 1987, where
he taught writing, 1985-87. He was one of thirteen
artists in the
Arad Arts Project, Israel, 1992-93. He trained to be an interviewer for the oral history project,
Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, in 1995. This nonprofit organization was established
in 1994 to collect and preserve the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses. He interviewed survivors in
Central and Southern Illinois and in Indiana and currently is a speaker for the Holocaust Education committee of the
Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation.
Many
forms of self-expression are therapeutic. With professional degrees in
counseling, design and creative writing, Robert Silverman integrates Communication
Skill Building and Creative Self-Expression into his counseling practice.
