Robert Leonard "Bob" Powers (12/29/29 - 05/23/13) was designated a Distinguished Service Professor in 1995 by Adler University, Chicago, and retired as Professor Emeritus. He was a past president of the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology, a NASAP Diplomate, and gave the Ansbacher Lecture in Vancouver, BC in 2011.
Robert Leonard “Bob” Powers
(12/29/29 – 05/23/13)
Powers was designated a Distinguished Service Professor in 1995 by Adler University, Chicago, and retired as Professor Emeritus. He was a past president of the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology, a NASAP Diplomate, and gave the Ansbacher Lecture in Vancouver, BC in 2011. Also in 2011, Powers was the recipient with his wife and colleague, Jane Griffith, of the NASAP Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a past president of the Chicago Psychological Association (now the Illinois Psychological Association), a Board member of the Illinois ACLU, a past president of the Chicago Chapter of the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity, and was with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, AL during the civil rights struggle.
Powers graduated from Capital University, Columbus, OH with a BA degree and earned the MDiv (Master of Divinity) at Yale University. He was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1956, attended the General Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City, and later earned an MA in Religion and Personality at the University of Chicago. He earned the Certificate in Psychotherapy at the Alfred Adler Institute of Chicago (now Adler University) under the direction of Dr. Rudolf Dreikurs. After passing the examinations for licensure as a clinical psychologist in Illinois, he joined Dr. Dreikurs’s private practice, served on the faculty of the (then) Alfred Adler Institute, regularly counseled former prisoners at St. Leonard’s House, taught at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL, and was priest-in-charge of the Episcopal Church Center and All Saints Chapel in Chicago’s Loop.
Powers opened his private practice in Chicago in 1972 and was joined by Griffith in 1979. Powers and Griffith founded the Americas Institute of Adlerian Studies (AIAS) and published the Individual Psychology Reporter, a quarterly newsletter, each of which spanned ten years. AIAS presented a three-course CE program in Adlerian Psychology, approved by both APA and NBCC, in various cities in the US that were without Adlerian training opportunities. Courses were taught by Powers and Griffith and outstanding guest instructors.
Powers, a well-known speaker, traveled and lectured widely, including at NASAP Annual Conferences, and, under the sponsorship of Adlerian organizations, across the United States and in Canada, England, Wales, Ireland, Greece, and Venezuela. He was the author and coauthor with Griffith of numerous professional articles and of three texts: The Key to Psychotherapy: Understanding the Self-created Individual (2nd Rev. ed., 2012); The Lexicon of Adlerian Psychology: 106 Terms Associated with the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler (2nd Rev. ed., 2007); and The Individual Psychology Client Workbook (3rd Rev. ed., 2012), and with Francis X. Walton, of Winning Children Over (1974).
Books and videotapes of unedited counseling/psychotherapy client sessions are available. See www.adlerianpsychologyassociates.com