Meet Dr. Alan Zwerdling, Psychologist

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Dr. Alan Zwerdling received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Maine in 1984, a program fully accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). While there, he was awarded a special commendation from the psychology faculty for overall clinical and academic excellence.

He completed his APA accredited clinical externship at the Pederson-Krag Center, a large community counseling center in Huntington, NY, where he received extensive training working with individual adults, couples, children and groups.

Prior to opening his practice in Red Bank, NJ, Dr. Zwerdling founded and directed a group private practice in Ocean County, NJ, The Adult, Child and Family Center for Counseling and Psychotherapy. In his 15 years in that position, Dr. Zwerdling provided a broad range of counseling and psychotherapy services to the community, and was responsible for supervising a team of staff psychologists, clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists. 

Dr. Zwerdling established his current practice, Red Bank Couples Therapy and Individual Counseling, over 20 years ago, with a mission to personally provide the most effective, highest quality personalized care to members of his local community. 

To that end, to enhance his work with individual adults, he completed an intensive three year post-doctoral training program in Accelerated Empathic Therapy at the Short Term Dynamic Therapy Institute in New York City. He is highly trained and experienced in both short-term, solution focused counseling and deeper experiential and insight oriented therapies. 

Noting the need for improved, evidence based help for couples in our local area, Dr. Zwerdling also sought extensive training in marriage counseling and couples therapy. He became the first therapist in Monmouth and Ocean Counties to receive certification in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples, widely recognized as the most effective, method of couples therapy and marriage counseling available today.

He is recognized by the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT).

For the past seven years Dr. Zwerdling has been facilitating intensive two-day workshops for couples based upon EFT principles. These workshops have received consistently excellent reviews from hundreds of couples who found them to be profoundly helpful to their relationship. 

Dr. Zwerdling also trained personally and received certification in relationship counseling by Dr. John Gray, author of the popular book, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". He previously led numerous "Mars and Venus" workshops for singles and couples focusing on dating, communication, conflict resolution and intimacy.

For a number of years  Dr. Zwerdling conducted corporate seminars on effective workplace relationships and communication, including training events with Lucent Technologies, AT&T, Heritage House Realtors, and the Monmouth County Library.

He has been interviewed by the Asbury Park Press (see below) and appeared on the radio (106.3 FM) on the topics of love, understanding relationships and improving communication.

Dr. Zwerdling has also worked for many years in the areas of 12-step addiction and codependency recovery, and trauma work for survivors of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

Noting the widespread increase in internet addictions, compulsive pornography use and online affairs, Dr. Zwerdling has also pursued extensive training with Dr. Patrick Carnes, the internationally recognized leader in this field.  

Dr. Zwerdling offers experienced, gentle, compassionate, cutting edge clinical services. He provides counseling and therapy to individuals and couples with a warm, gentle, validating and nonjudgmental approach. He maintains the highest ethical standards to ensure the quality and confidentiality of your therapy experience.

Dr. Zwerdling has made his home on the Jersey Shore, in Monmouth County, for 35 years.