David B. Wexler, Ph.D. Executive Director, RTI
“Dr. Wexler has received the prestigious award of Practitioner of the Year from the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, a division of the American Psychological Association.”
David B. Wexler, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice in San Diego, specializing in the treatment of relationships in conflict. He is the Executive Director of the non-profit Relationship Training Institute, which provides education and treatment internationally for relationship development and the prevention and treatment of relationship violence. He has also served as the Clinical and Administrative Supervisor for the NIMH-sponsored research study of domestic violence in the Navy from 1991 through 1996, and again from 2001 through 2006.
Dr. Wexler is the author of When Good Men Behave Badly: Change Your Behavior Change Your Relationship (2004), Men In Therapy: New Approaches for Effective Treatment (2009), #MeToo-informed Therapy: Counseling Approaches for Men, Women, and Couples (with Holly B. Sweet, 2021), and Is He Depressed or What? What to Do When the Man You Love is Moody, Irritable, and Withdrawn (2006). Dr. Wexler has been featured on the Dr. Phil show and the TODAY show, in the Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, “O” magazine, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Men’s Health, and on hundreds of radio and TV programs throughout North America to help educate the public about relationships in conflict and how to resolve them. Psychotherapy Networker devoted an entire issue to issues of men in therapy in May/June 2010 built around Dr. Wexler’s feature article.
Dr. Wexler has authored an internationally-recognized domestic violence treatment manual: the newly revised and updated The STOP Domestic Violence Program—Fourth Edition, released by W.W. Norton in March 2020. More than 60,000 domestic violence offenders have now been treated in the STOP Program.
Dr. Wexler has trained thousands of community professionals, military personnel, and law enforcement officials through extensive training seminars on the STOP Program model throughout the world. He has also recently published the second edition of the ground-breaking STOP Program: For Women Who Abuse (2024). He is also the former Chairman of the Treatment & Intervention Committee of the San Diego Domestic Violence Council and has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award for Treatment by this Council. The California Psychological Association has also designated Dr. Wexler as a Master Lecturer and he received CPA’s Distinguished Contribution to Psychology award. Dr. Wexler also received the prestigious award of Practitioner of the Year from the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, a division of the American Psychological Association.
The U.S. Navy contracted with Dr. Wexler to design an innovative intervention program for the prevention of date and acquaintance rape. TRUE CONSENT: Sexual Assault Awareness Training for Men was administered to 50,000 incoming Navy recruits annually at Great Lakes Naval Training Center as part of a four-year research study on prevention of sexual violence in the Navy.
Dr. Wexler has also consulted in hundreds of forensic cases and testified as an expert witness in over 60 cases in which the understanding of intimate partner violence offender characteristics, domestic violence patterns in relationships, PTSD, issues involving traumatic bonding, and battered women’s syndrome (now known as “intimate partner battering and its effects”) can help the Court clarify the complex legal issues. He has testified extensively for both Prosecution and Defense, in both criminal trials and civil cases, and in both military and civilian courts.
To contact Dr. Wexler or other RTI faculty about professional training or consultation, please email the office at rtiworkshops@gmail.com or contact him directly at dbwexler@gmail.com.
Constance Brunig, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Constance Brunig has been helping people find solutions to individual and relational problems for over 25 years. In San Diego she has worked at Kaiser Permanente, UCSD, and Scripps Mercy Hospital.
She specializes in the treatment of adults who are dealing with problems related to stress, anxiety, relationship issues and parenting. She has an integrative approach to treatment incorporating solution-focused interventions, attachment theory, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
Dr. Brunig has taught at United States International University and supervised doctoral interns at California School of Professional Psychology. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and a former Board Member of the San Diego Psychological Association. She is currently on the Board of the Relationship Training Institute.
Clark Clipson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Dr. Clark Clipson is a licensed psychologist in private practice specializing in forensic, neuropsychological and personality assessments. On the criminal side, he provides evaluations in cases involving competence, sanity, mental health diversion, sexual offenders, risk assessment and mitigation. In civil cases, he specializes in the assessment of the impact of trauma on a person's life and/or the presence of brain injury. He also provides clinical evaluations for neurologists, physicians, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, as well as learning disability evaluations. In the past, he has conducted evaluations for Sexually Violent Predators, Mentally Disordered Offenders, and for the Conditional Release Program, and provided trainings for the Judicial Counsel of California as well as numerous attorney groups. He is a past-president of the San Diego Psychological Association and served as the director of psychological services for Alvarado Parkway Institute. He is a graduate of Duke University and the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and has taught at both National University as well as CSPP.
Emily Horowitz, Psy.D.
Dr. Horowitz is a psychologist at a private practice in Mountain View, California. She has served on the RTI Board of Directors since 2005.
Steven Allen, Esq.
Steve Allen is a California-licensed Attorney whose personal and professional lives are dedicated to health, equanimity, and social justice. Mr. Allen received his Juris Doctor in 1994 from the University of California, San Francisco College of the Law and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California, San Diego with Departmental Honors of High Distinction in 1991. He is the founder and principal of the Law Offices of Steve Allen, a boutique law firm that provides a broad array of client-centered civil, criminal, and administrative legal services. Steve is bilingual (Spanish/English), a Certified Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victim Counselor, and the current President of the Board of Directors for McAlister Institute (a San Diego-based nonprofit social services/change agency that heals lives through the miracle of recovery).
Mr. Allen has presented extensively on the legal, social, and political implications of gender-based violence. His experience includes: Co-Chair of the Bi-national Network to End Domestic and Sexual Violence; Co-Founder of the Men’s Leadership Forum and recipient of its Hometown Hero award; recognition by California Senate Resolution for his leadership with the Attorney General’s Task Force on Local Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence. He was appointed and served on the San Diego County Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board. He is also a Board Member of the Relationship Training Institute, Inc.
Steve Allen has appeared in numerous media including the San Diego Union-Tribune, Frontera, El Mexicano, red social 83, The Toronto Star, San Diego Lawyer, San Diego Daily Transcript, KFMB Radio 760AM, Radio Unica 1040AM Unica al la Una, Radio Hispana 1420AM Voces de San Diego, KPBS 89.5FM These Days, local FOX, Warner Bros., ABC, NBC, and CBS television news affiliates, in Latin America on Univision (Spanish), in Canada on Global Television (Ontario), and internationally on the Judge Judy Show.
Steve is a committed, peaceful, and grateful parent to his two sons, Garrett and Jake. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, hiking, the ocean, writing, music, and art.
Gael Strack, CEO
National family justice center alliance
Gael Strack is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Alliance for HOPE International. The Alliance oversees the National Family Justice Center, Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, Camp HOPE America, VOICES and the Justice Legal Network. Gael is an internationally recognized expert in non-fatal strangulation cases and regularly trains on numerous topics. Gael is also an Adjunct Professor at California Western School of Law teaching a class on “Domestic Violence and the Law”.