About
David Strug
David L. Strug, Ph.D., LCSW, MPH
I would like to tell you about my psychotherapy practice and about my professional training as a mental health practitioner. I am a licensed clinical social worker with more than 20 years of experience working with children, with adolescents and with adults who come from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. I am a highly experienced therapist who has extensive training in mental health issues, in public health matters, and in multicultural perspectives on psychological problems. I have a Masters degree (MSW) in social work from the Hunter College School of Social Work, a doctorate (Ph.D.) in cultural anthropology from Columbia University, and a Masters degree in public health (MPH) from the University of California at Berkeley. I have post-MSW clinical training in psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy and in family therapy from several advanced clinical training institutes in NYC. I also have a number of years of post-doctoral training in the alcoholism and substance abuse fields. I am a Professor of Social Work at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work of Yeshiva University where I have taught social case work theory and practice and human behavior in the social environment for the last nine years. I am in charge of the clinical social casework course sequence at my School. I worked as a clinician and clinical supervisor in a number of different hospital and community-based clinics before joining the faculty of Yeshiva University.
My many publications (books and articles) concern alcohol and drug abuse, grief and bereavement, HIV/AIDS, and multicultural issues in mental health. I frequently make presentations at professional meetings throughout the US and also in Latin America where I have lived and where I have conducted research.
My clinical interests include gerontology, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, and psychological trauma, especially the impact of traumatic events, such as 9/11, on older persons. I have considerable experience in grief and bereavement counseling, in particular in the area of HIV/AIDS. I have worked with families where one or more members of the family are HIV-infected or have AIDS and I have a specialty in working with fathers of HIV-infected children. My clinical work in the substance abuse field is with persons addicted to alcohol and other drugs including, alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.
I have co-edited a book on alcoholism treatment and I am about to have published another co-edited volume on community health care in Cuba, a country I have visited more than a dozen times for research purposes. I have also co-directed a documentary film on the psychological impact of travel restrictions on Cuban Americans. I am a member of numerous professional organizations including, the Council on Social Work Education, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Society for Psychological Anthropology.
On this website, you’ll find pages describing my approach to psychotherapy practice, descriptions and excerpts from my publications, and links to websites that I think are useful, interesting, or I that I have professional affiliations with. I also have a “blog” section, where I’ll post updates on my activities and comment on research and books that I think are relevant to readers.