Continuing & Professional Studies, Palo Alto University

Dr. Bruce Bongar, Ph.D., ABPP, FAPM, received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and served his internship in clinical community psychology with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. For over 25 years, Dr. Bongar maintained a small practice specializing in psychotherapy, consultation and supervision in working with the difficult and life-threatening patient. Past clinical appointments include service as a senior clinical psychologist with the Division of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and work as a clinical/community mental health psychologist on the psychiatric emergency team of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Dr. Bongar is past president of the Section on Clinical Crises and Emergencies of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology, a fellow of the Divisions of Clinical Psychology (Div 12), Psychology and the Law (Div 41), and Psychotherapy (Div 29) of the American Psychological Association, a fellow of the American Psychological Society and of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and a chartered psychologist of the British Psychological Society. Dr. Bongar has also been a winner of the Edwin Shneidman Award from the American Association of Suicidology for outstanding early career contributions to suicide research, and the Louis I. Dublin award for lifetime achievement in research on suicidology. In 2008, he was awarded the Florence Halpern award by the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association for distinguished contributions to the practice of clinical psychology. Since 2001, he has also become interested in the psychology of mass casualty events and suicide terrorism. From 2002-2005, he was the founding director of the National Center on Psychology of Terrorism. His research and published work reflects his long-standing interest in the wide-ranging complexities of therapeutic interventions with difficult patients in general, and in suicide and life-threatening behaviors in particular.

Dr. Joyce Chu is an Associate Professor at Palo Alto University. She earned her B.A. and M.A. in psychology at Stanford University, her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan, and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Chu co-leads the Multicultural Suicide and Ethnic Minority Mental Health Research Groups at PAU, and is also Director of the Diversity and Community Mental Health (DCMH) emphasis which trains future psychologists to work with underserved populations in the public mental health sector.

Dr. Christopher Weaver is an Associate Professor at Palo Alto University, and Director of PAU’s Forensic Psychology Program. Dr. Weaver received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Louisville, and has held research and clinical positions (pre- and postdoctoral) at the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University. He has published in the areas of psychopathy and violence risk assessment, and more recently in the areas of substance abuse and psychological trauma. His publications also include co-authored books in law & mental health and psychopathology. Dr. Weaver’s current research focuses on the role that trauma and substance use play in criminal offending, the assessment of dissimulation in PTSD assessment. He is also conducting a funded training and research program designed to increase police officer effectiveness in working with people with mental illness.