Belleruth Naparstek

Psychotherapist, author and guided imagery pioneer Belleruth Naparstek is the creator of the Health Journeys guided imagery audio series and author of Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal, an award-winning book that explains why guided imagery is a best practice for posttraumatic stress.

As Prevention Magazine noted, she has been quietly creating an underground revolution among mainstream health and mental health bureaucracies, by persuading institutions like Aetna U.S. Healthcare, the U.S. Veteran's Administration, The American Red Cross, Kaiser Permanente, GlaxoSmithKline, Ortho Biotech, Blue Shield of California, Roche, Abbott, Amgen, Medical Mutual of Ohio, and nearly 2000 hospitals, mental health centers, social service agencies, health spas and recovery centers to distribute her guided imagery recordings, in several instances free of charge to clients.

In addition, her audio programs have been involved in over two dozen clinical trials, with nearly a dozen studies completed to date. Efficacy has been established for several psychological and medical challenges.

Naparstek received both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago , obtaining her master's degree in clinical social work in 1967. She maintained her psychotherapy practice for over 30 years and for several years taught graduate students at The Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University . Earlier in her career, she supervised psychiatry residents at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School and was Chief of Consultation & Education at the Woodburn Center for Community Mental Health in Fairfax County , VA. She also did a brief stint as a musical comedy actress at Second City and The Tip Top Tap of the Allerton Hotel.