DIRECTOR
Richard Cohen, M.A.
Executive Director
Richard Cohen, M.A., executive director of PATH, is a psychotherapist, educator, and author who travels throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East teaching on such issues as healthy sexuality, marital relations, communication skills, parenting skills, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Over the past 35 years, he has helped hundreds in therapy and thousands through healing seminars, as well as trained over 6,000 physicians, psychologists, counselors, and ministry leaders on how to assist those dealing with gender identity and sexual orientation issues.
Cohen is the author of seven books: 1) Healing Humanity: Time, Touch and Talk, 2) Being Gay: Nature, Nurture or Both?, 3) Gay Children Straight Parents: A Plan for Family Healing, 4) Understanding Our LGBTQ+ Loved Ones, 5) A Therapist's Guide: Assisting Those with Same-Sex Attraction and Their Loved Ones, 6) Counselor Training Program Manual, and 7) Rich's Home.
He founded the International Healing Foundation (IHF) in 1990 (dissolved in 2015), and co-founded Positive Approaches To Healthy Sexuality (PATH) in 2003. He is a frequent guest lecturer on college and university campuses, and at therapeutic and religious conferences. Cohen is available for consultations, speaking engagements, counselor training programs, and family healing sessions.
Cohen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston University and a Master of Arts degree in counseling psychology from Antioch University. For three years, he worked as an HIV/AIDS educator for the American Red Cross where he authored a statewide curriculum for foster parents and childcare providers with HIV-infected children. He is an expert in the field of Sexual Orientation Therapy.
(Cohen does not believe in Conversion Therapy, or ever practiced such a thing in his career.)
Cohen has been interviewed by newspaper, radio and television media, including appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Howard Stern, 20/20, and Larry King Live. He lives in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area with his wife of forty-three years, and has three adult children.
Separating Fact from Fiction
Wikipedia page about Richard Cohen
The Wikipedia page about “Richard A. Cohen” was not created or written by PATH. It was created by gay activists and LGBTQ+ sympathizers who discriminate against former homosexuals and therapy for those who experience unwanted same-sex attraction.
License
Psychotherapist Richard Cohen has always practiced within the legal requirements of each state in which he resided. He currently travels throughout the world training therapists, clergy and ministry leaders how to understand and assist those in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as those who experience unwanted same-sex attraction (SSA) and their loved ones.
Response to Richard Cohen’s being removed from the list of therapists at the American Counseling Association
The American Counseling Association (ACA), a non-licensing trade organization, opened an ethical investigation into Richard Cohen's practice in 2001 based on the complaint of a single client. The position of the ACA was that a dual relationship was created because he allowed his former client to do volunteer work for the International Healing Foundation (IHF), contribute to IHF, and share his story at a therapeutic conference. They claimed the most egregious act that Mr. Cohen committed was suggesting that his client purchase and read his books and attend healing seminars as part of his treatment. In fact, this is a common and ethical practice among all professional therapists. We know that Cohen was unfairly scrutinized because he is a former homosexual and believes in the client's right to self-determination to receive treatment for unwanted SSA. Because of the ACA’s bias against his work, Mr. Cohen decided not to fight such spurious charges and was subsequently expelled in 2002. The decision of the ACA has no influence on the legality or legitimacy of the therapeutic practice of Richard Cohen or that of the current therapists/coaches associated with PATH.
Therapeutic Techniques
As a psychotherapist, Mr. Cohen has employed a variety of evidenced-based therapeutic modalities to help individuals, couples, and families. Eclectic in his approach, Cohen uses a variety of modalities that have proven to be effective through scientific research. He has always practiced within the ethical guidelines of mental health organizations, respecting patient autonomy. Regarding the use of touch in psychotherapy, PATH adheres to the ethical guidelines of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (https://usabp.org/USABP-Code-of-Ethics). For more information on the history, effectiveness, and practice of touch in psychotherapy, see: Phelan, JE (2009). Exploring the use of touch in the psychotherapeutic field: A phenomenological review. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 46 (1), 97-111 (https://www.academia.edu/33514359/Exploring_the_use_of_touch_in_the_psychotherapeutic_setting_A_phenomenological_review).
Email: pathinfo@pathinfo.org