Because I believe in family

My Story

Hi. I'm Kristin MacDermott, a licensed marriage and family therapist. For more than 25 years, I've worked with an unusually wide range of people: cancer patients and burned-out nurses, military families and first responders, couples, parents, and students in schools ranging from inner-city public schools to elite private academies.

But whatever brought someone into my office, whether it was illness, deployment, or the ordinary strain of raising a teenager, the work almost always came back to the same thing: family. When families function well, they're our greatest source of love, support, resilience, and joy. Too often, they become our greatest source of pain instead.

This isn't just theory for me. My three grown children call me almost daily just to share their lives with me, and that's the joy of my life. I've been married to their father for 34 years, and I consider that an accomplishment. Relationships take work, even when you've spent your career studying them.

Helping families find their way back to joy is my life's work, and I built my practice around what actually gets people there.

The Short Version

I earned my B.A. at Duke University and my M.A. in Clinical Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy at Antioch University, along with advanced training in Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard's Benson-Henry Institute.

I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and Florida, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado, and a National Certified Counselor.

Starting in 2004, I founded Pathfinders, a nonprofit providing counseling to families facing cancer, chronic illness, and grief, and began a research partnership with Duke Clinical Research Institute that's now spanned four studies, including two randomized controlled trials, published in peer-reviewed journals.

In 2010, backed by that early research, I raised $9 million to found Reimagine, scaling resilience-training programs for cancer patients, healthcare workers, military families, and at-risk youth.

In 2018, I founded The MacDermott Method to bring that same evidence-based approach to teen mental health and parenting, work that led directly to the practice you see today.

I am presently bringing evidence-based resilience training into middle and high schools across the country and beyond through both my Mindset Moments^™ program and my Ready & Resilient Youth Initiative in partnership with Winward Academy. Know a school or youth organization that might be interested? Read more here.

I've written three books, including Resilient Family Capital: The 15 Strategies Every Family of Wealth Needs, It Takes Two Minutes to Shift Your Mindset and Build Resilience, and Resilience: Why Some People Have It, Others Don't, and 47 Skills to Get It. In addition, one of my early research studies was the subject of a PBS documentary, What Love Is: The Duke/Pathfinders 50, which still airs periodically.

I have served on numerous public and private school boards, recently served on Duke University's Mental Health Advisory Council and presently chair its Women's Impact Network Leadership Council in addition to chairing the Salvation Army Advisory Board of Palm Beach County.

But none of that matters as much as this: my mission is to put the joy back in families. I hope you'll let me help with yours.

Ready to put the joy back in your family?

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