Jerry Weichman, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and adolescent specialist
Encouraging kids to “carry themselves with pride – hold their shoulders back, chest up and head up to feel better – and be ‘bully repellent,’” Jerry Weichman, Ph.D is a popular speaker at school assemblies and to groups of teachers and parents. As a clinical psychologist and adolescent specialist with a practice at Hoag Neurosciences Institute in Newport Beach, “Dr. Jerry,” as his patients and their parents call him, helps teens deal with the social drama of high school.
Dr. Weichman’s book, How to Deal, is a survival guide for high school teens that teaches them how to deal with stress, elevate their mood and feel better — “even when things really suck.” “Today’s teens and parents need to be armed with a ‘tool box’ of practical solutions, and step-by-step instructions on how to use them, to meet the challenges they will all predictably face,” he says. Parents also respond well to his directive approach, gaining a far deeper understanding of adolescent issues.
Dr. Weichman grew up without a right foot, dealing with family problems and learning to walk with a prosthetic leg, being teased, developing body image issues, having social acceptance problems in school, experiencing lack of motivation, academic problems and depression. However, in high school he went through a transformation which enabled him to elevate his mood, become more optimistic, foster more intrinsic motivation, receive academic and athletic honors in high school, play Division I football in college, receive academic awards in college and earn his Ph.D. at the early age of 26.
