Meet Maureen Porter PhD

The interest and enthusiasm I have for my work as a psychologist has grown over the 35 years I’ve been in practice. I feel very fortunate to have a profession, which often feels more like a vocation. The great psychologist Abraham Maslow said, “We get to deal with the most fascinating objects in the world, human persons.” I agree!

I attended college in Ohio and then went directly to graduate school at the University of Detroit where I earned a Masters degree and a PhD in clinical psychology in 1980. During my early career, I worked in community mental health clinics and at a large psychiatric hospital. I was on a team of professionals that developed the first comprehensive residential program for the treatment of substance abuse in the Detroit area at Henry Ford Hospital.

I moved to Northern Virginia in 1987 where my family and I enjoyed all the recreational and cultural activities that the Washington, DC area has to offer. I even got a taste of the political scene when I provided counseling in the Medical Office of the Executive Office of the President in the White House. While my children were growing up, I developed a private practice working with adults and families. During this time, my continuing education focused on learning models of short-term psychotherapy and crisis intervention. In 1995, I completed a two-year program of study at the Washington School of Psychiatry in Couple and Family therapy. As I began to see more couples in my practice, I pursued additional training through the Gottman Institute in Seattle. I have completed Level 2 Gottman training, which means that I submitted video tapes of my work for review by a supervisor certified in the Gottman Method. Also, I participated in a group with other psychologists where we studied the Gottman model and reviewed our work together.

I moved to Charleston in 2007. After a year as an adjunct professor in the psychology department at the Citadel, I became the Director of the Family Development Program at Florence Crittenton. This program provided counseling, parenting education and much-needed social support to young mothers and children living in poverty. I left the agency after 5 years of very fulfilling work in March, 2014. Since moving to Charleston, I’ve maintained a private practice seeing adults and couples. At the present time the focus of my continuing education and professional development has been to pursue topics that will enhance my work with couples.

Dr. Porter is a member of the South Carolina Psychological Association

SC Licensed Psychologist #1101