About OTI

The Open Therapy Institute (OTI) is at the forefront of a burgeoning area of mental health care, developing innovative, evidence-based tools to help people, support professionals, and address social issues. Top scholars, researchers, and clinicians are applying a wide range of theoretical models to understand current challenges and disseminate this knowledge throughout the field and to the general public.

When people make connections to others and get support, they’re more likely to speak up. This can improve dialogue, understanding, and viewpoint diversity, as well as mental health. These positive changes can then ripple throughout the larger society. Whether you’re a mental health professional, a patient, the leader of an organization, or just a citizen looking for openness and dialogue, OTI is developing solutions to help make things better.

Meet Our Team

Andrew Hartz, Ph.D.

  • Andrew Hartz is a practicing clinical psychologist and was formerly a professor in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Long Island University, where he also completed his Ph.D. For several years, he’s written about political issues and mental health and recently served as a Writing Fellow at Heterodox Academy. He’s completed his clinical internship at Columbia University Medical Center, and other training placements at Mount Sinai Hospital, and the William Alanson White Institute.

Sally Satel, M.D.

  • Sally Satel is a practicing psychiatrist and lecturer at the Yale University School of Medicine. She examines mental health policy as well as political trends in medicine. Her publications include “PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness Is Corrupting Medicine,” “The Health Disparities Myth,” “When Altruism Isn’t Enough: The Case for Compensating Organ Donors,” and “One Nation Under Therapy” coauthored with Christina Hoff Sommers. Her recent book, “Brainwashed – The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience” with Scott Lilienfeld, was a 2014 finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science.

Camilo Ortiz, Ph.D.

  • Camilo Ortiz is a practicing clinical psychologist, an Associate Professor, and the director of clinical training in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Long Island University-Post. He is also a fellow with the “Flourishing in Action” project at the Archbridge Institute’s Human Flourishing Lab. He received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Michael Strambler, Ph.D.

  • Michael Strambler is an Associate Professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, where he is the Director of Child Wellbeing and Education Research. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. He has received awards from the Ford Foundation, the American Psychological Foundation, and the W. T. Grant Foundation. He has served as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous publications and has written extensively on social-emotional learning and other topics.

Pamela Paresky, Ph.D.

  • Pamela Paresky holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in human development and psychology from the University of Chicago. She has taught at the University of Chicago, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Johns Hopkins University. She’s the author of the guided journal “A Year of Kindness,” and was the primary researcher and in-house editor for the bestselling book “The Coddling of the American Mind.” Her current project is “Habits of a Free Mind: Psychology for Democracy and the Good Life.” An example of this work can be found here.

Larry Amsel, M.D., MPH

  • Larry Amsel serves as an Attending Psychiatrist and a Research Psychiatrist at Columbia University. Dr. Amsel studied mathematics at Columbia University before entering Yale University School of Medicine. After completing residency training, he joined the Columbia faculty completing two National Institute of Mental Health research fellowships and obtained a Masters in Public Health (MPH) specializing in mental health statistics and Child Psychiatry Research. As an expert in the effects of traumatic experiences, after 9/11, Dr. Amsel co-directed the Trauma Studies and Services Division at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Amsel serves as an expert witness in matters related to psychiatry and has expertise in complex legal issues in psychiatry.

Val Thomas, DPsych, MA (Couns. & Psychotherapy), BACP (Sen. Accred.), FHEA

  • Jon Mills is a Canadian philosopher, psychoanalyst, and retired clinical psychologist. He is Honorary Professor, Department of Psychosocial & Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK; Faculty in the Postgraduate Programs in Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, USA; Faculty & Supervising Analyst at the New School for Existential Psychoanalysis, USA; and is Emeritus Professor of Psychology & Psychoanalysis at Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto, Canada where he taught for over 20 years. Recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship, he is the author and/or editor of over 35 books and 200 peer reviewed articles in philosophy, psychoanalysis, psychology, and cultural studies. Dr. Mills is an internationally recognized scholar, teacher, cultural critic, and award-winning author who maintains an active writing schedule, and lectures widely worldwide.

Jon Mills, Psy.D., Ph.D., ABPP

  • Jon Mills is a Canadian philosopher, psychoanalyst, and retired clinical psychologist. He is Honorary Professor, Department of Psychosocial & Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK; Faculty in the Postgraduate Programs in Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, USA; Faculty & Supervising Analyst at the New School for Existential Psychoanalysis, USA; and is Emeritus Professor of Psychology & Psychoanalysis at Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto, Canada where he taught for over 20 years. Recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship, he is the author and/or editor of over 35 books and 200 peer reviewed articles in philosophy, psychoanalysis, psychology, and cultural studies. Dr. Mills is an internationally recognized scholar, teacher, cultural critic, and award-winning author who maintains an active writing schedule, and lectures widely worldwide.

Daniel Burston, Ph.D.

  • Daniel Burston holds Ph.D.s in both Psychology and Social and Political Thought. He taught psychology at Duquesne University from 1992 to 2023, and chaired the department from 2006 to 2012. He's written numerous books, including "The Legacy of Erich Fromm,” "The Wing of Madness: The Life and Work of R.D. Laing,” "The Crucible of Experience: R.D. Laing and the Crisis of Psychotherapy," "Erik Erikson and the American Psyche: Ego, Ethics, and Evolution," "Psychoanalysis, Politics and the Postmodern University," and "Antisemitism and Analytical Psychology: Jung, Politics and Culture." He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Kesher: Journal of the Association of Jewish Psychologists.”

Craig Frisby, Ph.D.

  • Craig Frisby recently retired from the School Psychology training program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has been an associate editor for the journals School Psychology Review and Psychological Assessment, and he is currently associate editor for the Journal of Open Inquiry in Behavioral Science. He serves on the American Institutes for Research (AIR) National Center on Intensive Intervention Academic Screening Technical Review Committee. He is the co-editor for the “Comprehensive Handbook of Multicultural School Psychology,” “Cultural Competence in Applied Psychology,” and is the author of “Meeting the Psychoeducational Needs of Minority Students.” He is the lead editor for an upcoming book to be published in 2022-23 entitled “Ideological and Political Bias in Psychology: Nature, Scope and Solutions

Richard Redding, J.D., Ph.D.

  • Richard Redding is a professor of Psychology and Education and Ronald D. Rotunda Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, at Chapman University. He was previously a professor at Villanova University, Drexel University, and the University of Virginia. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Psychological Science. Among Dr. Redding's publications are "Sociopolitical Diversity in Psychology: The Case for Pluralism" (American Psychologist, 2023), "Sociopolitical Values: The Neglected Factor in Culturally-Competent Psychotherapy" (in Prejudice, Stigma, Privilege, and Oppression: A Behavioral Health Handbook, 2020), Ideological and Political Bias in Psychology: Nature, Scope, and Solutions" (Springer, 2023), and "Sociopolitical Values as the Deep Culture in Culturally-Competent Psychotherapy" (Clinical Psychological Science, 2023).

Melia Dunbar

  • Melia Dunbar coordinates the administrative activities for the Open Therapy Institute (OTI). Dunbar previously worked in communications and administrative support in higher education.