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About Michael H. Kahn, Ph.D.

Professional Background

Throughout my career, my passion has been to identify the psychological tools of people who manage life's challenges well and to coach, counsel, teach, and train others to develop them.

I received my Ph.D. in psychology from Miami University in 1976. For over 35 years I specialized in Health Psychology, working with clients individually and in group therapy settings. A key focus of that work is helping people with psychological and stress-related medical symptoms to meet their goals and function at their best.

Expanding my services to include coaching was a natural development. It enabled me to work in the area I enjoy most of all: working with high functioning individuals who want to perform at even higher levels while simultaneously maintaining good health and satisfying personal relationships. I was trained as a coach through the MentorCoach(tm) Program.

In May of 2017 I stopped accepting new clients in my private clinical practice, after 41 years.

I have served on the medical staff at Anne Arundel Medical Center and North Arundel Hospital, and as an Adjunct Professor in Health Care Sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. I have served on the board of directors of the Annapolis Holistic Health Community, and provided support services for students with medical disabilities at the Anne Arundel Community College where I taught a course based on the Stress Management and Health Skills Enhancement Program.

Personal Background

The impact of medical problems on family members, patients, and myself significantly influenced my interests and the direction of my work. At age 29, limitations in my capacity to manage pressures appears to have weakened my immune system and I developed an acute medical problem. It was a wake up call, and completely changed the way I approached every day life.

Twelve years later when my wife, Joyce, and I decided to relocate from Washington, D. C. to Severna Park I knew I was entering an unavoidable protracted period of intense stress that put me at high risk. I was leaving secure employment to open a full-time private practice in a new city. The new house had a bigger mortgage. Four months after the move, our son Josh made a surprising entrance two months prematurely and spent a month in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Knowing my risk factors for illness, feeling the importance of maintaining emotional stability for Joyce and Josh, and knowing I had to be "together" when providing clinical services created quite a challenge: how to manage the high stressors, maintain health, function at a high level professionally, and enjoy life.

As a clinical psychologist, I knew there were tools available for me to use to meet these challenges. I began searching the professional literature and well established programs for the most effective and powerful tools. (In fact, all the methods I train people to use have been personally field tested by me.)

I live in Severna Park with my wife, Joyce Cooper-Kahn, Ph.D., a clinical and child psychologist who has published two books related to ADD and provides training workshops nationally and internationally. Our son, Josh, is a Personal Banker for the Maryland State Employees Credit Union. My daughter, Lisa, has an M.A. in Ethnobotany, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana for two years. She is an artist, writer and is married to Steve Schnell, Ph.D., a Professor of Cultural Geography at Kutztown University. They live in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, with my two granddaughters.

In addition to my family, I love nature, traveling, reading, woodcarving, and riding my Harley. I am devoted to environmental issues and feel a special kinship with animals.