Dr. Robert Wicks has helped people take measure of their lives for more than 30 years. Together, he and his clients have taken the perspective that “difficult times can offer graced moments in a more striking way than the good times can.” As a faculty member at Loyola University Maryland, as well as a speaker and teacher at other universities and professional schools of psychology, medicine, nursing, theology, and social work throughout the world, he has guided students and professionals in discovering how to value their strengths, develop a practice of mindfulness, and take charge of their self-care. He received his doctorate in Psychology from Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital.
Dr. Wicks’ major area of expertise is the prevention of secondary stress which encompasses the pressures encountered in reaching out to others. He integrates sound psychology and basic spiritual truths to set the stage for profound personal transformation. He has cultivated this experience through research and clinical practice with psychotherapists, physicians, nurses, educators, relief workers, lawyers, corporate executives and persons in full-time ministry.
Popular Speaker
Dr. Wicks has presented extensively on this subject to a variety of audiences:
Members of Congress and their Chiefs of Staff
NATO Intelligence Fusion Center in England
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Harvard’s Children’s Hospital
Harvard Divinity School
10,000 educators in the Air Canada Arena in Toronto
FBI Academy
Sellinger School of Business and Management and Institute for Private Investors
U.S. Bureau of Prisons
He spoke at the Boston Public Library’s commemoration of the Boston Marathon bombing. He has led a weeklong course in Paris and addressed care givers in South Africa, Beijing, China, Guatemala, Hanoi, Vietnam, Malta, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. He has also been the Commencement Speaker for Wright State School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio, as well as the Visiting Scholar and the Commencement Speaker at Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago. He gave the Commencement Address and received an honorary doctorate from Caldwell College in New Jersey.
Dr. Wicks has delivered presentations on self-care at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and Walter Reed Army Hospital. He spoke with health care professionals who were responsible for Iraqi and Afghani war veterans evacuated to the U. S. with multiple amputations and severe head injuries.
Over a period of several years, he debriefed professionals in Cambodia who supported the Khmer people in rebuilding their nation following years of terror and torture. He was also responsible for the psychological debriefing of relief workers evacuated from Rwanda during that country’s bloody civil war.
Prolific Author
Dr. Wicks has published over 50 books including Overcoming Secondary Stress in Medical and Nursing Practice and The Resilient Clinician for professionals and Bounce: Living the Resilient Life for the general public (all from Oxford Press). Two of his most widely-read books are Riding the Dragon: 10 Lessons for Inner Strength in Challenging Times and Everyday Simplicity (both from Sorin Books). His latest books for professionals are The Inner Life of the Counselor and Primer for Posttraumatic Growth in collaboration with Dr. Mary Beth Werdel. His most recent book available for the general public is Perspective: The Calm Within the Storm.
Honored Professional
In 2006, Dr. Wicks was honored with the first annual Alumni Award for Excellence in Professional Psychology from Widener University and was also the recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the American Counseling Association’s Division on Ethics and Values. In 1996, Pope John Paul II awarded him with a papal medal for his service to the Catholic Church.