During a career of over 50 years as a working clinician in diverse practice settings, Larry Perlman has made significant contributions to the field.
A native Detroiter, Larry received a BS from the University of Michigan in 1964. He then completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at New York University and his internship in the VA system. He worked at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY for 32 years in four departments, where he created innovative therapy programs and headed various clinical teams. He founded the Maimonides Psychology Associates which brought outside speakers for psychologist training and for the edification of the entire mental health staff.
Concurrently, Larry taught and provided clinical supervision in graduate psychology programs at NYU, CCNY, and Yeshiva University. He also founded and directed the Child and Adolescent Therapy Program at the Brooklyn Institute of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Throughout his career, Larry endeavored to integrate psychodynamic, interpersonal, family-systems, behavioral, and positive psychology approaches.
Larry has a knack for starting therapy programs and organizations, as well as political activism. He helped found a grass roots organization in New York State, the Coalition of Hospital and Institutional Psychologists (CHIP), which promoted hospital privileges for psychologists. CHIP was eventually absorbed by NYSPA, where Larry served on the Insurance Committee.
During that period, Larry maintained a private practice in Manhattan and Brooklyn. He helped organize the Noho Neighborhood Association, in the community where he lived in lower Manhattan. It interfaced with local politicians and police officials regarding community problems, such as crack dealing in the neighborhood.
Larry was the first president of the cooperative building where he lived. This required a tremendous effort to obtain legal status for the building. He was involved in weekly meetings with the board, the managing agent and city officials. Very large financial outlays were required that ultimately freed the cooperative from an unprincipled developer.
In 2001, Larry relocated to Ann Arbor with his wife and two young children. He became the first president of his neighborhood organization during a tumultuous period. He forged close relationships with local officials and with the school superintendent and advocated for the construction of Skyline High School adjacent to the neighborhood.
Larry obtained a position at the VA Ann Arbor Medical System that lasted ten years. He developed group treatments for insomnia and a multidimensional Wellness Program, while supervising 50 students and interns. Concurrently, he served on the faculty of the University of Michigan Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology. Since retiring from the VA, he has been in part-time private practice in Ann Arbor. Larry served on the Insurance Committee of Michigan Psychological Association (MPA) in 2012 and subsequently joined the MPA Board as the representative to APA Council.
While serving on the MPA Board, Larry recognized its crisis of declining membership. He reasoned that MPA was not sufficiently relevant for psychologists in various parts of the state, who do not recognize the more abstract value of a professional organization that is protecting their interests. This led to his founding the Washtenaw Psychology Society (WPS) in October 2015 to bring together psychologists who live or work in the area surrounding Ann Arbor. As a free local affiliate of MPA, WPS facilitated networking, peer consultation groups, mentoring of early career psychologists, discussion of practice issues, and educational presentations. In four years, WPS grew to 300 members, the size of an average state association. It had a convenient internal mail group for making referrals and answering queries. Its monthly meetings consisted of a business/networking session followed by a one-hour talk from one of the members, with free CE credits.
In March 2023, WPS became independent of MPA and incorporated as a 501(c)6 nonprofit entity. The new WPS is supported by event fees, dues, donations, and advertising. With the help of custom-designed software, its association management team, WPS can provide a sophisticated range of services to the professional community in Michigan.
Recently, WPS began to recruit licensed social workers in Michigan, that has increased its audience from 7,000 to 28,000 mental health professionals. WPS hopes to become a resource for information on evidence-based mental health practices for educators, professional societies, physician groups, and mental health organizations.
In addition to serving on numerous boards and committees in the institutions where he was employed, Larry has been an officer of many non-profit organizations. He has been a board member of a synagogue in New York as well as neighborhood associations there and in Ann Arbor. Everywhere that he lived and worked, Larry has started projects and helped bring people together. Thus, he is both a well-rounded psychologist and a socially committed citizen.
In his spare time, Larry plays Tai Chi which he has been doing for 40 years. He enjoys kayaking, evening walks with a dog, as well as working out and swimming at the YMCA.
