Dr. Ruth Folchman, PsyD, CGP
& Everyday Mindfulness
Clinical Psychologist and Certified Group Psychotherapist
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Biography

In terms of my clinical work, I received a Doctor of Clinical Psychology degree from Antioch New England Graduate School in 2004 and became licensed as a Psychologist in 2006.

My background as a group therapist began in my pre-doctoral Internship and post-doctoral Fellowship at the Institute for Living, in Hartford, CT. I continued to develop this interest in a year-long group therapy training program offered by the Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy and received a Group Therapy Training Certificate in 2007. I became a Certified Group Psychotherapist through the American Group Psychotherapy Association in 2009.

In response to the prevalence of both acute and chronic complex trauma in my patients,  I enrolled in a year-long training program in working with psychological trauma offered by Bessel van der Kolk's program in Boston, The Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute and received a Training Certificate in 2009.

I was in private practice since 2011. Prior to that, I worked at Cooley Dickinson Hospital's Outpatient Behavioral Health Services, where I provided individual and group psychotherapy, and taught in the START program, an addiction-related intensive outpatient program. I was the Coordinator of START and Group Programs up until CDH's transition out of behavioral health services, which precipitated my ultimate shift from community mental health (which I am deeply committed to) to private practice.

As a back problem again escalated and I sought alternative strategies for self-care, I began a yoga practice in 1994. I went on to become a certified teacher in Integrative Yoga in 1998.  It is through yoga that I first developed a practice of meditation and mind-body awareness. I have gone on many week-long retreats and day- and weekend-long trainings with specific teachers in a variety of yoga traditions, including Iyengar, Anusara, Kripalu, and Yin. My meditation practice is firmly established within the Vipassana tradition. 

My training in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction began with a 7-day intensive Professional Training with Jon Kabat-Zinn & Saki Santorelli in 2009.  Subsequently, I participated in MBSR  teacher training and development at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, including an 8-week Practicum in 2011,  serving as an apprentice teacher, and the Teacher Development Intensive in 2012. I became a certified MBSR teacher in 2017.

I participated in intensive teacher training in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression with Zindel Segal and Susan Wood in 2013, and became a certified teacher in 2017.  I teach MBCT at the UMASS Medical School's Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, as well as in my private practice.

I have presented mindfulness workshops for organizations, residential treatment programs, libraries, schools, and mental health clinics in the greater Northampton/Western Mass area. I also led a mindfulness component of a week-long yoga retreat in Mexico in 2013.




40 Center Street • Northampton, MA 01060  | Phone (413)582-6900 Fax (413)582-6955 | E-mail: ruth@drruthfolchman.com