ABOUT
DR. RAYMOND BAKAITIS
My hometown was industrial Cleveland, Ohio. I earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Boston College and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.).
My clinical and professional life have been shaped by diverse experiences over different periods.
I took my clinical training in veterans hospitals and community mental health centers. I worked with mental illness, substance use, family problems, and everyday problems of living.
I was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Loyola Marymount University where I taught a range of undergraduate and graduate courses. I was Director of the University’s Master’s degree program in Marriage and Family Counseling. Teaching helped me to think clearly and to consider the needs of people who are learning.
I developed an independent clinical practice. The foundation of my clinical orientation is humanistic values - respecting the uniqueness of the individual, supporting imagination, and leaning toward what is possible. I studied psychodynamic perspectives and practice - recognizing unconscious motivation, the influence of our early history in shaping who we are, and that conflicting emotions are normal and not an aberration to be cured.
I received training in cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and while not practicing that approach systematically, I am comfortable being directive with clients when I think doing so is in their best interests.
I became active in professional psychology. I was the President of the Los Angeles County Psychological Association. I was President of the Los Angeles Group Psychotherapy Society. I was President of the Los Angeles Society of Clinical Psychologists. Those experiences broadened my sense of how psychologists can work effectively.
I was an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychology at U.C.L.A. I supervised the clinical work of doctoral students in the University’s clinical psychology program for fifteen years. Working with beginning therapists honed my ability to track themes, needs, and meanings that present in any particular psychotherapy session.
I became involved in the field of group relations. Group relations is a method for studying the conscious and unconscious dynamics that occur systemically in groups, organizations, and societies. That learning has influenced my clinical work in significant ways.
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I became aware of how all of us are susceptible to projecting unwanted feelings onto others who are different from us, especially around social identities such as race, gender, and sexual identity. This process, when unexamined, can be harmful to all involved.
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I have come to recognize how our feelings and behavior are determined by the current needs of our families, organizations, and societies just as much as they are by our past experiences. We take on roles that serve needs of the system without our necessarily being aware that we are doing so. The roles we take are often related to our social identities, such as gender, race, sexuality, class, religion, nationality, and birth order. A systems psychodynamic lens complements a traditional psychodynamic lens to help us understand ourselves.
I have been involved in governance of different group relations organizations. I was President of the A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems (AKRI) for four years. I was President of Grex, the West Coast Affiliate of AKRI, for six years. I am a co-creator of International Group Relations China (IGRC) and an active member of the Lithuanian Group Relations Society.
I have learned about leadership and authority from these experiences. I have an eye toward helping clients think about their own relationship to leadership and authority, both their own and that of others.
Working with the international community has also expanded my understanding of other’s needs and experiences. I am a stronger clinician because I am better able to take in the “other” without feeling that my own identity is threatened.
