About the Speaker

Peter L. Sheras, Ph.D.
Professor of Clinical Psychology
Associate Director for the Virginia Youth Violence Project

Peter Sheras is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Charlottesville Virginia. He holds a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is Professor in the Curry Programs in Clinical and School Psychology at the University of Virginia Curry School of Education and is former Director of the Center for Clinical Psychology Services. He is a member of the National Academies of Practice, a national organization of exemplary human service practitioners. His work with adolescents, couples and families includes service as a co-coordinator of the Charlottesville/Albemarle School Crisis Network and as a member of the Phi Delta Kappa National Task Force on Adolescent Suicide. In addition to his University position, he practices with Charlottesville Psychological Associates and works with adolescent, family and adult populations specializing in group, individual and couples therapy. He counsels and lectures in the area of parenting adolescent children and creating lasting marital relationships.

Dr. Sheras is the Past-President of the Virginia Psychological Association and Past-President of the Virginia Psychological Foundation. He is a Federal Advocacy Consultant to the American Psychological Association, Past-Chair of the its Committee of State Leaders and Representative to its Council of Representatives. He aslo serves on the APA Board of Professional Affairs and is the Past-President of the APA Division of Media Psychology.

He has conducted a number of congressional briefings related to youth violence, has been a member of the Virginia State Department of Education Task Force on Crime and Violence in School Settings, and is associate director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project. He is the Central Virginia Regional Coordinator of the joint program for disaster relief of the American Psychological Association and the American Red Cross.

Dr. Sheras is the author of books and articles on adolescent behavior, youth violence, and clinical psychology. He was a member of the writing panel which produced Early Warning:Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools, published by the U.S. Department of Education and distributed to every public school in the United States. He has been a consultant for the American Psychological Association to their project with MTV on youth violence prevention for teens.

Dr. Sheras received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his graduate degrees from Princeton. His clinical training was completed at Rutgers University and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto California. He has been a practicing psychotherapist for 30 years.

He served on the board of a number of non-profit community organizations including the Region Ten Community Services Board of which he is Past- Chair, The Virginia Discovery Museum, the Creative and Healing Arts Institute and The Education Network a national non-profit organization committed to the transformation of American education. He speaks widely to school divisions, business and community groups regarding stress, violence, threat assessment, crisis intervention, and the problems of growing up in and living in today's world. He is a graduate of the 1999 Leadership Charlottesville Program and a 2001 Fellow of the Sorensen Institite for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. He serves as the Mental Health Function coordinator for the local Red Cross Chapter and does pro-bono consultation to schools and parents on violence response.

Dr.Sheras’ publications include numerous book chapters and articles on suicide and depression in adolescents as well as on the general topic of youth violence. He is the Author or co-author of 7 books including two books for parents, “I Can’t Believe You Went Through My Stuff!” a guide for parents of teenagers, as well as, Your Child, Bully or Victim, published by Simon and Schuster, He developed the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents, used widely to measure parent's coping ability. He has recently published a manual entitled Guidelines for Threat Assessment with Dr. Dewey Cornell from UVA. Dr. Sheras provides workshops on domestic relations for families and couples around the country with his wife, Dr. Phyllis Koch-Sheras. Their new book, Couple Power Therapy, has just been published by the American Psychological Association Press. Dr Sheras is married for 29 years and the father of two wonderful children ages 24 and 27.

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