Dr Alicia Lieberman is a clinical psychologist, author, and the senior developer of Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). Her books include: The Emotional Life of the Toddler, Don’t Hit My Mommy, and Psychotherapy with Infants and Young Children.

She has received numerous awards including: the Rene Spitz Award from the World Association for Infant Mental Health, the Hero Award from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and the Whole Child Award from the Simms/Mann Institute.

In this conversation, we explore:

— The pioneering work of Selma Fraiberg and how this influenced Dr Lieberman’s trajectory

— The role that "ghosts" and "angels" in the nursery play in the intergenerational transmission of trauma

— The importance of “speaking the unspeakable” and helping children who have experienced trauma to construct adaptive narratives from their experiences.

And more.

You can learn more about Dr Lieberman’s work at: https://childparentpsychotherapy.com/

---

Dr. Lieberman is the Irving B. Harris Endowed Chair in Infant Mental Health and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, and Director of the Child Trauma Research Program. She is a clinical consultant with the San Francisco Human Services Agency. She is active in major national organizations involved with mental health in infancy and early childhood. She is past-president of the board of directors of Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, and on the Professional Advisory Board of the Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute. She has served on peer review panels of the National Institute of Mental Health, is on the Board of Trustees of the Irving Harris Foundation, and consults with the Miriam and Peter Haas Foundation on early childhood education for Palestinian-Israeli children.

Born and raised in Paraguay, she received her BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. This background informs her work on behalf of children and families from diverse ethnic and cultural origins, with primary emphasis on the experiences of Latinos in the United States.

Dr. Lieberman is currently the director of the Early Trauma Treatment Network (ETTN), a collaborative of four university sites that include the UCSF/SFGH Child Trauma Research Program, Boston Medical Center, Louisiana State University Medical Center, and Tulane University. ETTN is funded by the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a 40-site national initiative that has the mission of increasing the access and quality of services for children exposed to trauma in the United States. Her major interests include infant mental health, disorders of attachment, early trauma treatment outcome research, and mental health service disparities for underserved and minority children and families. Her current research involves treatment outcome evaluation of the efficacy of child-parent psychotherapy with trauma-exposed children aged birth to six and with pregnant women involved in domestic violence. As a trilingual, tricultural Jewish Latina, she has a special interest in cultural issues involving child development, child rearing, and child mental health. She lectures extensively on these topics nationally and internationally.

---

Interview Links:

— Dr Liberman’s website - https://childparentpsychotherapy.com/

3 books that Dr Lieberman recommended

— The emotional life of the toddler - Alicia Lieberman - https://amzn.to/46pWmGn

— Don’t hit my mommy - Alicia Lieberman - https://amzn.to/3LHCepK

— Make Room for Baby - Alicia F. Lieberman, Manuela A. Diaz, Gloria Castro, Griselda Oliver Bucio - https://amzn.to/3ynmyow