Halina Irving, MA, MS, MFT
Clinical Consultant
Responsibilities
I began working at the Center in 1994 doing groups. I facilitate the ‘Looking Ahead Group,” designed for individuals who have no evidence of disease and are no longer on treatment.
Training
I attended UCLA as an undergraduate and graduate student, receiving my BA and my MA in French Literature. I subsequently attended California State University at Los Angeles where I received an MS in counseling with a specialization in rehabilitation. I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
Professional Work
I began my professional career teaching French at UCLA while working towards a doctorate. I later switched careers and, after receiving my MS at California State University at Los Angeles, I worked for several years as a rehabilitation counselor before opening a private psychotherapy practice. I specialize in working with individuals with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. Over the past 23 years I have facilitated various bereavement support groups as well as cancer support groups. For several years I led groups at Vital Options, an agency serving young people with cancer. I have also lectured to various groups such as Compassionate Friends (for parents who have lost children) and to other professionals on the subject of loss and bereavement. I presently serve as the psychotherapist on a syndicated radio program called “The Group Room,” which deals with cancer-related issues.
Person Interests and Perspectives
My interest in chronic illness, loss and bereavement stems from my life experience. I am a child of survivors and a Holocaust survivor myself and lost both my parents and my 31-year old sister to cancer. I was the primary caretaker for all three and this experience, along with being a breast cancer survivor myself, enabled me to gain a personal understanding of the pain and problems encountered by both the family and the person who is ill. On the lighter side, I love antiques, am an opera buff and have a lifelong passion for movies. My family likes to say that I will watch anything that flickers. Like Goethe, I am an “eye” person, extremely receptive to all that is visual, whether it is from the world of fashion, decorative arts, movies or nature. What gives the most meaning to my life, however, is my sense of connectedness to others and always remembering Voltaire’s words that “life is a garden for each of us to nurture in his or her own way.”