Gayle R. Berg, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who has been in private practice in Roslyn for the past 35+ years.
Although she received her doctorate in counseling psychology from New York University in 1983 her passion for mental health advocacy was ignited earlier during her undergraduate years.
At that time, she witnessed firsthand the negative impact that institutionalization and the lack of treatment can have on the lives of individuals suffering with mental health challenges.
The de-institutionalization movement was just getting underway moving large numbers of individuals out of “institutions” and back into their communities. It was a hopeful time based upon what was considered then a novel idea: that people with “mental illness” could recover and lead relatively normal lives if given access to needed services and programs.
In 1973, Berg obtained a teaching assistantship under William B Anthony, Ph.D., founder of the Center of Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University’s Sargent College.
He was considered by many to be the “father of the recovery movement.” In addition to researching the processes for systemic and personal transformation, Sargent offered a newly created master’s program specializing in “psychiatric rehabilitation’, which Berg completed in 1974.
Anthony’s pioneering efforts were creating a major paradigm shift in treatment and service delivery at a time when it was badly needed. These early experiences played a critical role in shaping the trajectory of Bergs’s career.
After graduating from BU, Berg returned to NYC to pursue her Ph.D. at NYU while working full-time at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Funding for mental health and rehabilitation had been cut from the federal budget and consequently, many hospitals were experiencing a “revolving door” of untreated patients in need of care.
The promise of treatment was thwarted by the lack of funding to properly implement this new social policy. Realizing the importance of political advocacy and determined to stay focused on quality mental health care, Berg applied the principles she learned at BU to help the hospital design and implement an innovative recovery-based psychiatric day treatment program, one of the first of its kind.
The program demonstrated that recovery is possible and continues to do so even today. She also became a mental health advocate for greater access to services and quality of care. After completing her Ph.D., she founded Psychological Solutions, a private psychology practice in Roslyn. She became certified in clinical hypnotherapy in 1993 and obtained diplomate status in 2000 from the National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists.
Berg’s commitment to the recovery movement and to improving access to quality mental health care nationwide includes decades of state and national legislative advocacy. She served as Chair of the New York State PAC for psychology (PLANY) for 14 years and has advocated tirelessly for the passage of mental health parity laws on both the state and national levels.
In addition, she has held several governance positions within the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA) and is currently their 2023 president-elect; is a past president of the Nassau County Psychological Association and a past President of the L.I. Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
She currently serves on the board of directors at the Sid Jacobson JCC, Boston University advisory board, BU Sargent College’s Deans Advisory Board and their Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health, UJA Fed NY Board of Directors and is a member of UJA L.I.’s Executive Committee.
Berg received the New York State Psychological Association, Allen V Williams, Jr. Memorial Award in 2008 and NYSPA’s Dedicated Service Award in 1999.
In 2009 she was the recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award for Advocacy. In August 2017 she received UJA Federation’s L.I. Robert S Boaz Award.
