UConn Magazine: Toward a More Perfect Union

Couples counseling for America

Illustration of a man and woman struggling.

(Tim Lahan)

America is in need of marriage counseling.

Enter Bill Doherty ’78 Ph.D. He’s been a couples therapist for some 40 years — but over the past eight, he’s taken on a new type of client.

“I was not involved in anything political until right after the 2016 presidential election,” says Doherty. That’s when two of his colleagues asked him to help get 10 Hillary Clinton voters and 10 Donald Trump voters together to try to talk with — and understand — one another. “The country was sort of in shock. I had a lot of experience — in the therapy world, but also in community engagement — and I knew a fair amount about facilitating groups. The idea was to see if they could get past the stereotypes of each other, and find some common ground.”

Read on for more.