The Board of Directors of Beck Institute and I are excited to announce that on March 27, 2024, Allen R. Miller, PhD, MBA was appointed acting Executive Director. I first met Allen in 1994, the year my dad, Aaron Beck, and I established Beck Institute. Allen had had extensive training in Behavior Therapy and to a significant degree in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). But he wanted to learn more about state-of-the-art CBT: how to deliver it and how to train others to do it. He enrolled in our one-year supervision program which included three workshops. And he continued to treat clients, supervise and train health and mental health professionals, and develop robust CBT programs for the next 16 years.
Fast forward to 2018. I was delighted that Allen agreed to come to Beck Institute as Director of CBT Programs. He has since played a pivotal role in the development and delivery of all aspects of our CBT curriculum and programming. During the last six years, he has provided oversight to our training department, developed content for and led a variety of on-demand and live trainings, and developed and launched both our CBT Certification program and our popular Group Supervision program. Allen is responsible for the creation of the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale-Revised, an important tool that has made CBT supervision and the assessment of therapist competence more objective. He also created the CBT in Practice online course which teaches mental health practitioners, faculty, and supervisors how to use it to conduct and assess effective treatment. He has also modernized and improved many aspects of our training programs, and has served as an ambassador to outside associations and organizations that see the necessity of training their professional and paraprofessional staffs in CBT. His hard work and excellent leadership have been critical to our ability to deliver on our nonprofit mission to improve lives worldwide through excellence in Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy.
Prior to joining Beck Institute, Allen served as Director of Behavioral Health at WellSpan Behavioral Health, providing administrative and operational oversight for the service line that served hospitals and medical practices within the health system. In this role, Allen provided training and supervision of essential cognitive and behavioral skills within a population health environment, adapted for medical settings. Using the principles of implementation science, Allen worked to integrate sustainable CBT programs within primary care and other medical services.
Allen’s vast experience and expertise will help Beck Institute thrive. He and I have already discussed a number of new initiatives to continue to grow Beck Institute, including a stronger focus on Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy for individuals with chronic, complex, and serious mental health conditions and adapting CBT for many different populations and cultures. We’ve worked closely together for a long time and I know Beck Institute will continue to do great things with Allen at the helm.
The role of Director of CBT Programs vacated by Allen will be filled by Sofia Chernoff, PsyD, who previously served as Assistant Director of CBT Programs. Sofia has been with Beck Institute since 2021 and has managed the daily operations of Beck Institute’s educational programming and clinical services, while taking on increasing responsibility within the training department. There is no doubt that Sofia will transition seamlessly into her new role.
As a mental health nonprofit, we feel called to address the myriad mental health crises facing our world today. Better trained therapists deliver better outcomes for their clients, and we envision a future where everyone, regardless of location, culture, background, or socioeconomic status, can access and afford modern, appropriately adapted, evidence-based therapy. There is no doubt that with Allen and Sofia’s leadership we are well-equipped to undertake the challenge of achieving this ambitious goal.
Judith Beck, PhD, President, Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy