Gabriel Gherasim

Gabriel Gherasim, is an Author, Therapist (MA, BA, CASAC) and The Borough Manager for Manhattan, Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York (CIDNY).

He was born in Romania and came as a political refugee in the United States via Italy. Because his father was a political prisoner under the Communist dictatorship, his whole family was blacklisted as “enemies of the state” and he was refused medical treatment in his native country. Thanks to pressures from the Caritas International, an international Catholic charity organization at the time presided by the later Pope Benedict XVI Ratzinger, he was allowed to leave only with his father (the rest of the family were essentially kept hostage) in the symbolic year 1984 (see George Orwell’s book by the same title), and after receiving a kidney transplant and subsequent medical treatment thanks to the humanity and kindness of the Italian government and of the superbly loving and giving Italian people, he arrived in the USA in 1987.

Here he graduated from Central Catholic high school and he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from Portland State University. He also graduated later with a Master’s degree in Mediation, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from California State University. He also has a Substance Abuse Counseling Certification from the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) from New York State.

Over the past 21 years he has been working alternatively: as a group counselor with the Catholic Charities; as a case manager with the New York Department For The Aging (DFTA) and respectively with the New York Department for the Homeless Services (DHS); as Faculty by teaching Psychology at Professional Business College and Long Island Business Institute (LIBI); as a Specialty Counselor for groups and individual therapy for, but not limited to Mentally Ill Chemically Abusive clients (MICA), Anger Management; and Re-entry populations at New York Center for Addiction Treatment Services, Inc. (NYCATS/Revcore); he authored 10 books with Vervante Press on various subjects related to societal and personal conflict resolution techniques.