About Sparky
John Breeskin, Ph.D., aka Sparky the Mind Doc, is a widely experienced clinical psychologist who specializes in group psychotherapy, psychodiagnostics, and forensics.
Exceptional Qualifications and Experience
Sparky is a Certified Group Therapist (CGP). This credential is given by the National Registry of Certified Group Psychotherapists. He is also a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology with the American Board of Professional Psychology, a designation held by fewer than ten percent of all psychologists. He is an Adjunct Professor and a Distance Learning Fellow for the University of Maryland, University College where he has been teaching since 1966.
During his twenty years in the Air Force, Sparky undertook preliminary work on both diagnosing and setting up treatment programs for returning Vietnam veterans and has continued this work to the present. He also created and directed a network of four large outpatient mental health clinics just outside of Washington, DC.
A Seasoned and Versatile Teacher
Sparky has lectured in nearly every major city in the U.S. to enthusiastic mental health professionals on topics such as, “The Art of the Diagnostic Interview”, and “Innovations in Group Psychotherapy”. He continues teaching at the University of Maryland – University College (UMUC), where his subjects cover “almost everything in the psychology catalog”.
In addition, he has taught undergraduate psychology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and instructed graduate students at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, the Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California, and the Union Institute & University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Sparky’s teaching philosophy can best be called “sustained ambiguity.”
Expect the Unexpected in a Classroom Like No Other
Sparky prides himself on being a non-traditional teacher, drawing in disparate elements of such philosophically and scientifically based movements as phenomenological, existential, and Gestalt psychology.
These methods include:- Using the fine arts, literature, and history to illuminate psychological techniques and patients’ problems
- Bridging the gap between street experience and language, on the one hand, and the needs of contemporary patients and therapists
- Using humor and self-disclosure to model resilience and authenticity
- Using real-life narratives to move and deepen students’ understanding of the therapeutic encounter
Sparky combines these disparate teaching traditions to revitalize the therapeutic encounter. He also uses a broad array of methods to present information in unexpected and poetic ways.
Whether in a virtual or actual classroom, students can expect a lively, multimedia experience, one in which bonds of friendship naturally form based upon voluntary self-disclosure and our need that others witness our sadness. In the words of Ecclesiastes, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for the sadness in our eyes brings wisdom.”