41: Phyllis Leavitt, MA – Author and Retired Psychotherapist Shares Her Journey and Brings a Message of Urgency, Hope, and Healing in her New Book

Masters in Psychology Podcast

Phyllis Leavitt originally majored in English at Simmons College in Boston, MA before transferring to The New School College in New York, NY. In this podcast, Phyllis shares her academic and professional journey leading us through her decision to return to school for her master’s degree in psychology and counseling to practicing as a psychotherapist for over 32 years to running her own private practice for 25 years. She has recently retired and though she has already authored multiple books, she is currently working on a new book that brings a message of urgency, hope, and healing to America. By the time Phyllis wanted to go back to school for her graduate degree, she had three children and was considering being a teacher or a therapist. During our discussion, she states “I chose psychology and therapy and I’m so glad I did.” Although there were other graduate programs in psychology in New Mexico, Phyllis recalls meeting a field representative from Antioch University who, at the time, was putting together a program that she really liked as it included a small teaching venue, a lot of independent study opportunities, and it “brought together a lot of local professionals to teach classes in different areas, and then we could design some of the program ourselves.” She admits the customization of the Antioch program and that it was in Santa Fe, where she lived, were the two most appealing reasons she attended Antioch University. After earning her Master of Arts in Psychology and Counseling, Phyllis Co-Directed a sexual abuse treatment program before going into private practice. She states that working in the sexual abuse treatment program “was a fantastic experience” and would recommend anyone interested in working in a clinical setting get as much experience and peer supervision as possible as it helps tremendously, especially if you want to open your own private practice. Phyllis recalls that they did mostly group therapy and had groups of all ages of children, non-offending parents, adults who survived sexual abuse, and groups for offenders. She states, “I felt like it gave me a very solid foundation for moving into private practice.” Now retired, Phyllis is following her passion…writing. Though she had the idea for her current book almost 20 years ago, she is glad that she waited to write the book as her understanding and scope for the book has grown. She explains that there are multiple themes in her book. One stems from her own abuse in her childhood and once she started therapy and realized this, then all of the puzzle pieces began to fall into place. She also realized that there are “millions of people like me out there, and they’re not only the victims of child abuse, but they’re victims of war and, and you know, discrimination and poverty and sexism” and there are “so many people in the world who don’t know why they are the way they are.” Phyllis then discusses another theme of her book which is a belief that ”our government operates very much, in many ways, like an abusive parent” and that “there are many people in positions of great power who pick their scapegoats, target certain populations and make them the enemy, which is exactly what abusive adults do in their own families.” She says that her book is designed to bring this understanding to the way we see our country and the way we treat people. She then discusses the term “identified patient” and explains the underlying thesis in her book “is that the most symptomatic among us are calling for help for the American family, for our country’s family.” She continues “If we could move beyond domination and submission and really experience ourselves as equals and find the balance of the male and female within ourselves as well as honor that in others, we wouldn’t have war. We wouldn’t have rape. We wouldn’t have greed.” Phyllis also discusses hope in therapy and states, as therapists, “we have hope for our clients,