Faculty & Staff Overview Administration Clinical/Voluntary Faculty FacultyStaff

Martyn Whittingham, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Address: Counseling and Wellness Services, 053 Student Union
Phone: 937.775.3407
Campus Fax:  937.775.3421
E-mail: martyn.whittingham@wright.edu

Areas of Specialization/Interest

Dr. Martyn Whittingham, an Assistant Professor, is a full-time core faculty member in the School of Professional Psychology and a licensed Psychologist in Ohio. He specializes in group counseling with a particular interest in the interface between group therapy theory, the assessment of interpersonal distress and social psychology. He teaches introduction to group therapy; advanced group therapy; social psychology and dynamic and interpersonal therapy. His research and practice  focus has been on the development, implementation and evaluation of the Focused Brief Group Therapy (FBGT) approach – a brief model for group therapy that focuses client concerns utilizing empirically-derived assessment of interpersonal distress. In 2010 he was awarded the Group Practice Award by the Association for Specialists in Group Work for excellence and innovation in group work. This national award was granted in recognition of the use of innovative assessment within the FBGT approach as well as for the increases in clients served through group therapy at Counseling and Wellness Services, where he consults. Dr.Whittingham is the current co-chair of the National Research Committee for the Association for Specialists in Group Work.  He also serves on the executive committee for the Tri-State Group Psychotherapy Society, an organization he helped re-found in 2009. He has presented and published on a variety of group therapy topics including: the interface between attachment and interpersonal theory in understanding group dynamics; Focused Brief Group Therapy; building a group psychotherapy program and the ethics of group therapy.

Research Areas/ Interests

Dynamic modeling of the interface between interpersonal style and group-as-a-whole perception of conflict; Stages of group development.

Classes
Interviewing I
Practice Tutorial
Group Counseling
Social Psychology
Advanced Group

Biographical Information

Dr. Whittingham, an assistant professor, is a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington’s Counseling Psychology program. He is an English citizen, with professional experience in America and the United Kingdom.

He specializes in group counseling with a particular interest in the interface between small group dynamics, personality and social psychology. His specific focus is in research on conflict in small group dynamics and its application to both group psychotherapy and organizational behavior. Dr. Whittingham also specializes in multicultural counseling, with a particular emphasis in international / cross-cultural counseling and its applications to group work.

His prior professional experience includes working in a variety of clinical, outreach and social work settings with at-risk youth, gang members and homeless men. He has also worked as an Outward Bound instructor.  Drawing from these experiences, he has delivered workshops on the non-violent de-escalation of conflict in high-risk situations. 

Dr. Whittingham has presented nationally and regionally on a variety of topics including conflict in small group dynamics, group counseling and psychotherapy and counseling international students. He has won two teaching awards and been recognized as an emerging leader in the field by the Association for Specialists in Group Work.