History of the Reiss-Davis Graduate
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Reiss-Davis was originally founded to promote the mental health and well-being of children of the Los Angeles community, by offering clinical services to children and families and mental health training to students and professionals who desire to serve that same mission.
Reiss-Davis continues to fulfill that mission by having clinicians and Fellows provide diagnostic and therapeutic work through the two year Postdoctoral/Post-Graduate Fellowship Program at the Vista Del Mar’s Outpatient Counseling Center; psychodiagnostic services (PEDS) to assess learning disabilities, emotional dysfunctions and/or autism through the PEDS Fellowship Program; continuing education opportunities for professionals in the field of mental health through the Saturdays at the Center Program. Developing the graduate education program enacts the School's mission to provide a quality, Psychodynamic, Neurobiologic and Trauma - informed (PNT) doctoral program in Psychodynamic Child Psychology and Psychotherapy that prepares clinicians to address the mental health needs of children, adolescents and their families in a culturally competent manner via the Doctoral Weekend Program for those professionals who already are clinically licensed in the state of California or license-eligible, but want to delve deeply into psychodynamically informed child and adolescent psychological issues; and conduct research toward achieving their dissertation.
Reiss-Davis continues to fulfill that mission by having clinicians and Fellows provide diagnostic and therapeutic work through the two year Postdoctoral/Post-Graduate Fellowship Program at the Vista Del Mar’s Outpatient Counseling Center; psychodiagnostic services (PEDS) to assess learning disabilities, emotional dysfunctions and/or autism through the PEDS Fellowship Program; continuing education opportunities for professionals in the field of mental health through the Saturdays at the Center Program. Developing the graduate education program enacts the School's mission to provide a quality, Psychodynamic, Neurobiologic and Trauma - informed (PNT) doctoral program in Psychodynamic Child Psychology and Psychotherapy that prepares clinicians to address the mental health needs of children, adolescents and their families in a culturally competent manner via the Doctoral Weekend Program for those professionals who already are clinically licensed in the state of California or license-eligible, but want to delve deeply into psychodynamically informed child and adolescent psychological issues; and conduct research toward achieving their dissertation.
Becoming Part of Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services
Reiss-Davis joined Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services in 1978, and started providing post-graduate fellowship training and clinical services to children. There it expanded to provide Psycho-Educational Diagnostic Testing and fellowship training on the campus in West Los Angeles, at the address it currently holds.
Our Heritage
Dr. Oscar Reiss was a preeminent pediatrician not only in Los Angeles but across the country, holding many professional positions in his field of pediatrics. He taught and supervised at USC, held the position of Chief Medical Doctor at Vista Del Mar, and had a thriving practice in Beverly Hills. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he had a dream to develop a clinic that would offer lower income patients the same high-quality diagnostic and therapeutic services that young people in Beverly Hills received. He also wanted a to create a center that would provide advanced training to psychology, psychiatry, and clinical social work professionals who wanted to work with the mental health needs of children and adolescents while offering everything within a psychodynamic orientation. Although Dr. Reiss was ahead of his time, he persisted in pursuing his dream, attracting many other like-minded professionals along the way. However, he was never able to see his dream come to fruition, as he died shortly before the opening of the Oscar Reiss Mental Hygiene Clinic on Fairfax Boulevard in Los Angeles on September 21, 1950.
Dr. David Bennett Davis, wanting to continue Dr. Reiss’s dream, became the first board president of the clinic but unexpectedly died one year later. Shortly thereafter, the board of the clinic changed the name to the Reiss-Davis Clinic. In 1963, the expanding clinic moved to 9760 West Pico Boulevard and became the internationally known and well-respected Reiss-Davis Child Study Center.
Dr. James Incorvaia provided leadership to the Reiss-Davis Child Study Center for 46 years and worked ceaselessly to promote children’s mental health services and to inform the professional community of recent and relevant developments in psychodynamic child psychotherapy and psychology. He joined Reiss-Davis in 1972 as a postdoctoral fellow, was promoted as the Director of the Psychology Department and Training in 1975, and became the Director of Reiss-Davis Child Study Center and Institute in 1991. In 2007, a merger request from the Graduate Center for Child Development and Psychotherapy initiated the graduate school, whereby in 2020, Dr. Incorvaia oversaw the WSCUC accreditation of Reiss-Davis Graduate School. He was well-known for his expertise in psychological testing, and developed the Psycho-Educational Diagnostic Testing Service (PEDS) program at Reiss-Davis, which provides comprehensive psychological and educational testing and treatment recommendations for children and adolescents. He authored several books of psychotherapeutic guidance focused on infants, children, and adolescents. With energy, guidance and dedication, Dr. Incorvaia lived to “make a difference,” and made a lasting impact on the patients, fellows, students, and faculty he served.
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To donate to the Dr. Incorvaia fund or read remembrances submitted following his passing, see the Dr. James Incorvaia Remembrance page.
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