Ross Hackerson

Location: Northampton, MA

For over 40 years, Ross has worked with people recovering from childhood neglect, sexual and emotional abuse and the lack of connection that comes from preoccupied, distant, disconnected and / or self-absorbed parents and has found that everyone can heal.

“I discovered psychology in my last year of college as I prepared to be a teacher. I suddenly knew what I wanted to do.  I taught Science and English and then returned to graduate school in psychology. Several positions after graduate school I was a clinical psychologist at Big Spring State Hospital in Texas, with a busy schedule of testing, therapy, and administration. As Director of the Adolescent Unit, I had therapy groups with the kids, their parents and families… the beginning of my romance with family therapy.  I read everything “therapy oriented” as I loved the work, and in that reading, I discovered Gestalt Therapy.

“I followed my interest in Gestalt Therapy and became a trainer, certified by the previous Gestalt Therapy Institute of the Southwest and subsequently trained therapists. One of the highlights of that time in my life was living in New Orleans and teaching on the Faculty of the New Orleans Gestalt Institute with Anne Teachworth. Anne introduced me to Richard Bandler and of course, I studied and became an Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner. New Orleans was also where my own family got its start and we had two boys there before returning to California, where we had two girls. Having been licensed as a Marriage and Family therapist in California, I now had my own family and the “family training” was experiential and intensive.

“Well, one thing follows another and I moved to New England and took up residence in Northampton, MA. There, in reviewing material in preparation for taking the Massachusetts Marriage and Family Therapist license, I fell in love with Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples. I attended a one-day workshop with Dr. Sue Johnson and determined to continue my training. Time, money, distance, and children interfered. I marked the time by studying EMDR (what I believe to be the Gold Standard of trauma therapy) and became an EMDRIA Certified Consultant. My understanding of trauma deepened and I put together a practice with individuals, couples, and families, most all of them with trauma histories.

“I also deepened my understanding of trauma treatment and enhanced my skills toolbox by studying Coherence Therapy, Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), and Image Transformation Therapy (which is, I think, the single most effective treatment to come along for working with neglect, addiction and sexual addictions).

“Then, training in Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples came to my neighborhood and I jumped in. I think this approach brought together all my previous learning and opened a path to coaching couples (and individuals and families) that is very effective.

“I then spent many years involved in the EFT community, committed to the process of having individuals, couples and families learn to have the best lives and relationships possible. I taught the Hold Me Tight™ couples workshop developed by Sue Johnson. I focused on teaching the workshop to therapists who were working in EFT so that they could apply the principals and processes to their own relationships.

“Today, years later, having retired from the therapy business and become a Coach, I am constantly amazed by the wonderfulness of this work. It is with a profound sense of the possibility of healing each other and maybe our environment through and in our relationships that I bring you our intensive retreats.”