Dennis Pollack, Ph.D.

I was born in 1943 in the highly industrialized city of East Chicago, Ind. My father was a steel worker for forty-three years and my mother was a librarian for many years. My father was the quiet man who never missed any of my baseball games unless he was working. My mother taught me not to judge unless you walk in the other person’s shoes. My three year older brother, Chuck, was a heart surgeon until he retired. I graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1961 and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of San Francisco.

My first clinical experience was working for the Salvation Army. My wife and I married in 1966. I completed a Master of Science Degree in clinical psychology from San Jose State University. My work/study experience gave me the opportunity to work at the Menlo Park Veterans Administration Hospital. It was a unique program that taught veterans transferable skills for the real world while at the time giving them the opportunity to receive counseling services. I then completed my Ph. D. in clinical psychology at Michigan State University. After completing my course work I completed my internship at Napa State Hospital.

While finishing my doctoral research at Illinois State University. I was coordinator of the master’s level clinical training for two years. I came to Spokane in 1975 to teach at Gonzaga University. In 1977 I went into private practice performing forensic evaluations, Social Security Disability evaluations and treating clients. I was recruited by Tom Schumacher to participate in the PTSD program and have been doing it for many years. The work has been very satisfying and never dull. You have to feel good when one of your seventy-year old veteran clients was just accepted into a Ph. D. program in Australia.