What Are Hedy Schleifer's Professional Credentials and Experience?

Hedy Schleifer holds a BA in Psychology from UCLA and an MA in Clinical and Child Psychology from Tel Aviv University, and brings 40 years of professional experience to her work as a relationship builder, clinical trainer, coach, workshop presenter, and speaker. Her background combines formal clinical training with decades of applied practice—including AIDS counseling during the height of the crisis, women's empowerment work, and interfaith conflict resolution—plus over 55 years of marriage that she describes as her "living relational laboratory." If you are evaluating her as a coach, trainer, or workshop leader, the credentials below are the ones her site documents.

Formal Education

Professional Experience

• 40 years of professional experience in relationship building and the development of relational intelligence and maturity.
• Private practice early in her career, counseling people affected by AIDS during the height of the crisis.
• Women's empowerment — much of her attention has gone to assisting women in reaching their full potential.
• Interfaith and conflict work — through creating a chapter of the Foundation for Mid-East Communication, she worked on Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations and deepened her study of conflict dissolution and relational maturity.
• Clinical training and teaching — she practiced and taught Encounter-centered Couples Therapy® for decades and now trains mental health professionals, coaches, leaders, and executives in Encounter-centered Transformation™ (EcT).

International Reach

Hedy speaks seven languages and has taught and shared her approach to relationships in more than 39 countries. Her site states that she works with people of all races, ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations.

What This Means If You're Deciding Whether to Engage Her

• If you want a clinically grounded facilitator: the UCLA and Tel Aviv University degrees plus decades of therapeutic practice support that expectation. Note that her site says she no longer offers Encounter-centered Couples Therapy® in a therapeutic setting; her current work is EcT, delivered through private intensives for couples and training for professionals.
• If you are a professional seeking training: her stated audience for EcT training includes mental health professionals, coaches, leaders, and executives.
• If international or cross-cultural experience matters to you: the 39-country teaching record and seven languages are the relevant signals.
• If you are looking for a couples workshop or intensive: her site describes private intensives guided by the EcT approach; specific formats, scheduling, and any costs are not detailed in the material reviewed here, so confirm those directly through the site.

Her stated framing is that "relationships are not problems to be solved, but adventures to be LIVED"—useful context for the style of work you can expect, which centers on encounter and connection rather than problem-focused therapy.