David B. Wexler, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice in San Diego, specializing in the treatment of relationships in conflict. He is the Executive Director of the non-profit Relationship Training Institute, which provides education and treatment internationally for relationship development and the prevention and treatment of relationship violence. He has also served as the Clinical and Administrative Supervisor for the NIMH-sponsored research study of domestic violence in the Navy from 1991 through 1996, and again from 2001 through 2006.

Dr. Wexler is the author of When Good Men Behave Badly: Change Your Behavior, Change Your Relationship and Is He Depressed or What?: What to Do When the Man You Love is Moody, Irritable, and Withdrawn. His newest book, Men In Therapy: New Approaches for Effective Treatment, was released in 2009. Dr. Wexler has been featured on the Dr. Phil show and the TODAY show, in the Washington Post, “O” magazine, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Men’s Health, and on dozens of radio and TV programs throughout North America to help educate the public about relationships in conflict and how to resolve them.

Dr. Wexler has authored a treatment manual with accompanying workbooks entitled STOP Domestic Violence: Innovative Skills, Techniques, Options, and Plans for Better Relationships. Dr. Wexler has trained thousands of community professionals, military personnel, and law enforcement officials through extensive training seminars on the STOP Program model throughout the world. Dr. Wexler is also the former Chairman of the Treatment & Intervention Committee of the San Diego Domestic Violence Council and has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award for Treatment by this Council. The California Psychological Association has also designated Dr. Wexler as a Master Lecturer and he received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology award at their annual convention in 2003. Dr. Wexler recently received the prestigious award of Practitioner of the Year from the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, a division of the American Psychological Association.

The Relationship Training Institute is approved by the San Diego County Probation Department to provide clinical training for all authorized county domestic violence treatment programs for court-ordered offenders. These five-day training workshops are offered annually in San Diego County. RTI provides treatment, evaluation and consultation for all forms of relationship development and relationship violence, including domestic violence and victims of crimes.

The U.S. Navy contracted with Dr. Wexler to design an innovative intervention program for the prevention of date and acquaintance rape. This program, called TRUE CONSENT: Sexual Assault Awareness Training for Men, was administered to 50,000 incoming Navy recruits annually at Great Lakes Naval Training Center as part of a four-year research study on prevention of sexual violence in the Navy.

Dr. Wexler has served as an expert witness in numerous forensic cases in which the understanding of intimate partner violence offender characteristics, intimate partner violence patterns in relationships, and battered women’s syndrome (now known as “intimate partner battering and its effects”) can help the Court clarify the complex legal issues. He has testified for both prosecution and defense.

Dr. Wexler is also the former Director of Psychological Services at Rancho Park Hospital, where he developed the internationally recognized PRISM model for self-management. He has pioneered the development of self psychology and cognitive behavior therapy in treating adolescents. He is the author of THE ADOLESCENT SELF: Strategies for Self-management, Self-soothing, and Self-esteem in Adolescents, The PRISM Workbook, and The Advanced PRISM Workbook.

To contact Dr. Wexler or other RTI staff and faculty about professional training or consultation, please call 619.296.8103.