Contact the Dean

Jens Schmidt, Ph.D.

Dean
​Chief Academic Officer

Education

Licensed Psychologist; Ph.D. in Psychology, California Graduate Institute

Pronouns

he/him/his

Profile

Jens Schmidt, Ph.D. is the Dean and Chief Academic Officer at Reiss-Davis Graduate School, and oversees all academic affairs including those functions of the offices of the of the Provost.
​
Previously, Dr. Schmidt was the Director of The Chicago School Counseling Center in West Los Angeles, a community mental health center that also serves as a training and internship site for a staff of 30,  a training director, clinical supervisor, and Affiliated Professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where he taught in the MFT and the applied clinical program in Psychology (Westwood and Los Angeles Downtown). He has been part of the adjunct faculty of the California Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara Graduate Institute and the Graduate Training Programs at Reiss-Davis Child Study Center and Institute.  Dr. Schmidt graduated from the University of Cologne, Germany with a diploma in Psychology. He received his Doctorate in Psychology from the California Graduate Institute and a certificate in Psychoanalysis.  Dr. Schmidt is licensed as a Clinical Psychologist by the State of California.

Dr. Schmidt maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Los Angeles.  He works with a broad spectrum of mood, anxiety and personality disorders and a very diverse client population. Dr. Schmidt’s clinical focus is psychodynamic and inspired by contemporary psychoanalytic theories.

Current Research Interests

• Dr. Schmidt’s theoretical research interests include contemporary psychoanalysis, relational psychology, self-psychology, intersubjectivity, attachment theory, and somatic psychology.
• His clinical research interests include psychological trauma, identity development, gender and sexual orientation, personality disorders, mood and anxiety disorders and relational conflicts.
  
• Topics of academic research interests include ethics and laws in psychotherapy, human diversity, child abuse and intimate partner abuse; assessment, prevention and intervention of suicidality; psychotherapy of trauma, and clinical supervision and training