Charles Alexander, PhD
Professor Emeritus
calexander@wi.edu

BS Physics, City College of New York, 1964
MS Physics, Cornell University, 1967
MS Counseling, California State University, Hayward, 1973
PhD Clinical Psychology, California School of Professional Psychology, 1976

Dr. Alexander served as the dean of the Wright Institute from July 2001 through June 2012. He remains tied to the Institute as a visiting faculty. Dr. Alexander is an expert in the treatment of substance abuse and chemical dependency and was the director of Chemical Dependency Services for the Diablo Subregion of Kaiser Hospitals in Walnut Creek, Martinez, Pleasanton, and Antioch. As the program's director, he facilitated groups for substance abusers, their spouses, adult children of substance abusers, and adolescent substance abusers and their families. He has also worked as the director of the Substance Abuse Program at Kaiser Medical Center, Walnut Creek. From 1986 through 1990, Dr. Alexander was codirector of the Institute for Addiction Studies, a joint program between John F. Kennedy University and Merritt-Peralta Institute.

Dr. Alexander's clinical experience also includes helping clients with professional burnout issues, working with families and groups, and working within a brief therapy structure. He was the chief psychologist of the Mental Health Clinic at Kaiser Medical Center, Walnut Creek, where he was a psychotherapist for individuals, couples, families, and groups, and where he conducted advanced diagnostic work. He currently serves as a consultant for several Bay Area agencies.

Dr. Alexander has a private practice in Berkeley and specializes in the treatment of adult children of alcoholics, issues of codependency and chemical dependency, and in work with couples and families.

The numerous workshops and presentations Dr. Alexander has given over the past twenty years reflect his interest and expertise in the areas of group psychotherapy, marital treatment, and psychotherapeutic treatment of alcoholics, codependents, and adult children of alcoholics. He was the keynote speaker at the Northern California Division of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists meeting in 1990. He gave presentations for five years at the Western Regional Institute of Family Service America, for three years at the Western Canadian Conference on Family Practice, and at the Grand Rounds at Walnut Creek Hospital.

Dr. Alexander's teaching experience in psychology began more than 25 years ago at John F. Kennedy University. At JFK and at the Wright Institute, he has taught courses on brief psychodynamic and systemic therapy, family therapy, couples therapy, group therapy, supervision, treatment of chemical dependency and codependency, and working with chemically dependent families.