Kuriansky, Judith (jk2013)

Kuriansky, Dr. Judy

Adjunct Professor
Professor, Dept of Clinical Psychology; United Nations NGO representative, International Association of Applied Psychology; Trustee, United African Congress
212-678-8127

Office Location:

428 HMann

Office Hours:

by appointment

Judy Kuriansky, Ph.D. is an internationally known clinical psychologist, humanitarian, author and United Nations NGO representative. On the adjunct faculty as a Professor Psychology and Education, in the Department of Clnical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbi University, for 18 years, she formerly taught the class on The Psychology of Intimacy, and now teaches “Psychology at the United Nations.” This is a special seminar class where students learn about pychologists’ role in gobal mental health and get unique access to distinguished high-level diplomats and UN events, like the Commission on the Status of Women, Commission for Social Development, World Interfaith Harmony Week, the International Day of Happiness and innumerable others.

     At the United Nations for 18 years, she is the main NGO representative for the International Association of Applied Psychology and the World Council for Psychotherapy. When President of the Psychology Coalition of NGOS accredited at the UN, she partnered with the Ambassador of Palau for the successful historic inclusion of mental health and well-being in the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, and now advises the member state government Friends of Mental Helath and Well-being. She co-organizes major events at the UN, that students attend, with governments, UN agencies and other NGOs, on topics interlinking mental health with climate change, poverty, migration, decent work, women’s eompowerment, peace and the other SDGs.

     She has conducted disaster recovery trainings and workshops worldwide, including in China, Japan, Iran, Sint Maarten, Sri Lanka, Australia and the U.S. as well as during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, after SARS in China, after 9/11 and other terrorist attacks, and for Syrian refugees in Jordan (some of which students have assisted at); given plenaries and speechs worldwide from Hanoi and Tehran to Beirut, Beijing and Moscow, and for the World Bank/WHO conference; delivered the declaration for the Union of Mental Health in Russia; co-developed a Girls Empowerment Camp in Africa; advocated about Universal Health Coverage; and co-drafted many policy statements, including about equal work rights for disabled persons, women’s rights, and about mental health and climate change.

     Besides authoring innumerable journal publications, her many books address relationships, like “The Complete Idiots Guide to A Healthy Relationship” and “31 Things to Raise a Child’s Self Esteem” to international issues, like The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Ebola Has Taught Us about Holistic HealingEcopsychology: the Intersection of Psychology and Environmental Protection,” “Beyond Bullets and Bombs: grassroots Peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians” and “Living in an Environmentally Traumatized World: Healing Ourselves and Our Planet,” and a journal issue on “Models of Mental Health and Human Rights in Celebration of The 60th Anniversary of The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights for All.”

     An award-winning journalist, “Dr Judy” (as she is fondly known) is a pioneer of radio call-in advice, former television reporter on WCBS-TV, WABC-TV, CNBC, and others, and popular commentator on CNN, CCTV in China and many news shows. Her columns have been in print media worldwide from the New York Daily News to the South China Morning Post, Singapore Straits Times and Japan’s Hanako magazine. She has been interviewed widely from People Magazine to the New York Times. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, she is active in divisions on media, trauma, international, clinical, counseling, environmental and humantistic psychology. A graduate of Smith College, she earned a masters degree from Boston University and a Ph.D.in clinical psychology at New York University, and spent ten years as a Senior Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute doing cross-cultural research in America and the United Kingdom.

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