The Science of Psychotherapy Academy

Ken Benau, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in clinical psychology with a subspecialty in adult psychotherapy at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, in 1988. He has been a California licensed clinical psychologist since 1990. Dr. Benau maintains a private practice in Kensington, CA, located in the SF Bay Area. He provides individual, couple, and family therapy, professional consultation, and training. Dr. Benau has expertise in working with children and adults with various learning and developmental differences, including those living with ADHD and high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. He has a special interest and expertise in shame and pride-informed psychotherapy with survivors of relational trauma, and has written several peer-reviewed articles with that theme. Dr. Benau’s forthcoming book, Shame, Pride, and Relational Trauma: Concepts and Psychotherapy, will be published by Routledge in March 2022. For many years, Ken worked in school settings and outpatient psychotherapy with children, teens and young adults with special psychosocial and learning needs, including those living with learning differences, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Now he sees primarily adults in individual and couple therapy, and over the last 15 years has enjoyed working with early relational trauma survivors and their loved ones. Ken’s approach to psychotherapy can best be described as ecumenical and striving toward integration. Having been in the mental health field for almost 40 years, and as an avid student of the history of psychotherapy, Ken is most comfortable with approaches that are experiential, constructivist, psychodynamic, relational and attachment-based, emotion-focused, neurobiologically informed, systemic, narrative-/solution-oriented, and more broadly, strength-based.