Victor Loos, Ph.D. , LSSPClinical PsychologistDirector of the Center for Family ConsultationFour Decades in Houston
I have provided clinical services in Houston for since 1984, have taught nationally and internationally, and have worked with colleagues from around the world. I have had the privilege of sharing the lives of clients from all walks of life, and it never it never ceases to be an honor. I think you'll find that it is easy to talk to me. I will do my best to be attentive, and to help you "undo" whatever knot is facing you, to join you in creating the changes you want. To help you, I will draw on the personal experiences and clinical skills I have accumulated over a lifetime -- informed by clinical research and sharpened by dialogue. I am fascinated by language, by interactions and by the choices that people make. I believe that most of us do the best we can with the limited information that we have at any given time. I have found my training as a linguist, a clinical psychologist, and a family therapist to be an exceptional springboard to helping people resolve tough problems in as short a time as possible. Training, Leading, Publishing
I've had the opportunity to serve as Director of Training at Galveston Family Institute (now Houston Galveston Institute), to be the Director of Psychological and Counseling Training at Deer Park ISD, to teach psychiatry residents and psychology interns at Baylor College of Medicine and to supervise LSSP school psychology interns at the University of Houston Clear-Lake. I have also had professional leadership roles, serving as president and board member of Houston Psychological Association (HPA), on the boards of Houston Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (HAMFT), and Division 43 (Family Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the North American Personal Construct Network (NAPCN). As editor of multiple professional newsletters on family psychology and professional development, I have been able to rub shoulders with leading thinkers in the field. Personal Journey
Four decades of clinical work has solidified my multi-cultural appreciation. I came from Peru to the United States at age 17 to start college, focusing on languages and cross cultural training. I earned a masters in linguistics (M.A.--University of Texas Arlington), having acquired a bachelor of arts in Greek and Hebrew before that. I discovered that the most interesting work in linguistics and socio-linguistics was being conducted by researchers on the frontier of the then nascent field of family therapy: psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists and research pioneers investigating schizophrenic family communication; double-binding communication; logic, inference and literalism in interpersonal communication; linguistic markers in instances of miscommunication; patterns of linguistic conflict-continuance in relationships; linguistic relevancy issues; multi-level interactions; nonverbal family communication. So I continued my interest in interpersonal interactions with a masters and doctorate in clinical psychology from University of North Texas, doctoral internship at Baylor College of Medicine, and postgraduate fellowship at Galveston family Institute (all APA-approved programs). I stayed on to serve as faculty and director of training at Galveston Family Institute and clinical faculty at Baylor College of Medicine. I discovered the exciting world of clinical research, which for all its number-crunching and data-analytic qualities, yielded some fascinating insights for clinical practice. I had the opportunity to direct some interesting research projects along the way: Double Binding Communication in Families; Conflict Resolution in Couples; Emotional Intelligence in School-Aged Children. Along with Mary Lue Summerlin, Ed.D. we implemented emotional intelligence coaching projects in school districts around the state of Texas (SMART! EQ Coaching for Kids), and with Bob McLaughlin, Ph.D. and Kim McClanahan, Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine BCM, we implemented multi-year, federally-funded programs training teachers as counselors in school districts throughout Harris County (Teachers as Mentors). I later started the Center for Family Consultation to provide clinical services, training, research in the Houston area. More recently I have chosen to concentrate primarily on clinical practice in Houston at the Center for Family Consultation so that I could focus more time with a growing family, as well as writing, publishing, and reviving my childhood passion for wildlife photography. |