Bill Blank earned his BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. After years of acting (and bartending and waiting on tables) he went back to school and earned his doctorate from Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. While still in school, Bill always looked for additional educational experiences and became intensely interested in the treatment of trauma. Bill interned at the Sunset Park Mental Health Center (part of Lutheran Medical Center) in Brooklyn and happened to be working there on September 11, 2001. Shortly thereafter, hundreds of people with PTSD and/or Major Depressive Disorder came to hospitals and clinics looking for treatment. Bill began working with dozens of patients using Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). He also has received training in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy. In addition to his trauma work at Lutheran, Bill was the supervising psychologist on the inpatient unit and the psychologist for the bariatric surgery program.
When he left Lutheran, Bill worked for the Westport Public Schools as a Middle School Psychologist for three years before leaving to become the Director of Student Support Services and High School Psychologist at the Leffell School in Hartsdale, NY. During this time, Bill was an adjunct professor at Fairfield University where he taught School Psychologists in training to use CBT and Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) in the school setting. Bill works with students, families, and faculty members doing individual (mostly around anxiety and mood issues) and group work as well as running the advisory program which focuses on character education.
In his spare time, Bill is an avid tennis player and often plays in member-guest club tournaments and USTA leagues.