Irene Pierce Stiver, Ph.D.

Founding Scholar

Irene was Director Emeritus of the Psychology Department, McLean Hospital and had been a senior clinician and teacher in major medical/educational institutions for more than 30 years.

She was the co-author of Women's Growth in Connection and The Healing Connection: How Women Form Relationships in Therapy and in Life. She was the author of numerous articles and papers. See more publications by Irene Stiver.

Dr. Stiver had written and spoken widely on a range of topics relating to women's development and experience: work inhibitions in women, "dependency" in relationships between women and men, therapeutic impasse, the need to reframe treatment models, and disconnection in troubled families.

Dr. Stiver passed away September 24, 2000. A scholarship fund has been established to support the continuation of Dr. Stiver's life-long commitment to the training of clinicians, students, and other professionals. In addition, a dissertation award has been established in Dr. Stiver's name to recognize outstanding efforts to advance the understanding and practice of Relational-Cultural Theory.