Sharon Risch , PhD

Dr. Risch is a Clinical Fellow at the Family Institute completing a two-year postdoctoral program of advanced training in marital and family therapy. Dr. Risch received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and completed her M.A. & Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Tennessee. Prior to coming to the Family Institute, she completed her predoctoral internship residency training at Harvard Medical School and The Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Here, she worked with patients with severe and persistent mental illness in acute inpatient and outpatient settings providing individual therapy, group therapy, and psychological assessment. Dr. Risch has clinical experience with children, adolescents, and couples. She has a specific interest in developmental issues related to adolescents, parent-child relationships, pre-marital couples, and conflict and intimacy in couples. Dr. Risch also has an interest in psychological assessment and psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Dr. Risch has presented and published several studies focusing on couples and families. Her prior research includes understanding the impact of the parent-child relationship on adolescents’ attitudes towards marriage and divorce, parent-adolescent attachment, and how parents’ marital relationship and their relationships with their children impact adolescent adjustment. At the University of Tennessee, Dr. Risch was also a co-investigator for a National Institute of Child Heath & Human Development funded study examining the normative development of adolescents’ romantic relationships. Her dissertation research examined how adolescent couples’ communication styles impact relationship satisfaction and dating violence.

Clinical Interests:  Adolescents, individual adults, parent-child relationships, adoption issues, conflict and intimacy in couples, premarital therapy and transitions from dating to marriage, psychological assessment, and severe mental illness.

Locations:  Downtown Chicago, Evanston