General Info

BIOGRAPHY Diana J Semmelhack, PysD. LCPC, ABPP Professor Dr. Diana J. Semmelhack became a member of the faculty at Midwestern University in the summer of 2004 and currently holds the position of full professor in the clinical psychology department. She is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University. Experience Prior to entering the field of psychology, Dr. Semmelhack had a very successful career in magazine publishing. She went back to finish her doctorate in clinical psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. Her internship and fellowship experiences involved working with severely mentally ill detainees at Cook County Jail. She has extensive experience working with individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness in a variety of settings including long-term care facilities. She worked extensively with traumatized and neglected children and adolescents at Maryville. Currently her research is focused on Group-as-a-Whole Work (based on the Tavistock Model) with severely mentally ill institutionalized adults and the use of creativity in treating mental illness. Two Rutledge books and numerous peer reviewed papers have been published highlighting the effectiveness of the model and Dr. Semmelhack’s overall body of work. In addition, to writing Dr. Semmelhack has presented her research results at many national and international conferences sponsored by The International Society of Group Psychotherapy, American Psychological Association, American Group Psychotherapy Association, National Alliance on Mental Illness, The International Society for the Treatment of Schizophrenias and Other Psychoses, Creativity and Madness and others. Most recently she will be presenting a paper this November at the Hominis Conference in Havana, Cuba. Her research has generated over $28,000 in grant monies. A recent interest has focused on the integration of group-as-a-whole work and the fine arts. An outcome of this interest has been a 26- min