Biography

Dr. Stephen Dansiger played CBGB and Max’s Kansas City in the late 70s; drank, played drums in a toy rock band and then got sober in the late 80s; became an international educator and rocker again in the 90s; and a sought after clinician, writer, and meditation teacher in the 2000s. Dr. Steve attempted to “cure” Marc Maron on WTF, is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant/Certified EMDR therapist, and provides EMDR Therapy Training and Advanced Topics courses with the Institute for Creative Mindfulness. He helped set up the premiere Buddhist addictions rehab center, Refuge Recovery Treatment Center in 2015. At the center he developed and instituted the MET(T)A Protocol (Mindfulness and EMDR Treatment Template for Agencies), a design for agency treatment using Buddhist Mindfulness and EMDR Therapy as the theoretical orientation and primary clinical practices. The MET(T)A Protocol is now being implemented at other treatment centers nationally and internationally, and transferability of the protocol to other environments such as private practice and general mental health agencies is in progress. He first presented on MET(T)A at the EMDRIA Conference 2016 in Minneapolis, and presented an updated version at EMDRIA Conference 2018 in Atlanta. He is the author of Clinical Dharma: A Path for Healers and Helpers (StartAgain, 2016) and avidly blogs and podcasts on topics related to mental health, recovery, and mindfulness. Besides maintaining a private practice in Larchmont Village in Los Angeles, he travels internationally speaking and teaching on Buddhist psychology, EMDR therapy, the MET(T)A Protocol, trauma, addictions, and clinician self-care. He has been practicing Buddhist mindfulness for 30 years (including a one year residency at a Zen monastery), and teaches dharma classes regularly in Los Angeles and internationally. His second book (co-authored with ICM founder Dr. Jamie Marich), EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care, is available now from Springer Publishing. His third book, Mindfulness for Anger Management: Transformative Skills for Overcoming Anger and Managing Powerful Emotions, is available on Althea Press. For more, go to www.drdansiger.com