Rene Tillich, Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy;
University of California at Berkeley
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Rene Stephan Tillich has been a practicing psychologist in Hawaii since 1968. He has specialized in group therapy, individual therapy, and now couples therapy.

His orientation is to be fully present; to help clients access their feelings (humanistic orientation), including anger, sadness, joy and love; to explore with clients how their lives, past and present (psychodynamic orientation), shape the feelings they experience; and finally he encourages clients to choose their meaning (existential orientation) in as full, creative ways as possible.

The specific problems clients bring to therapy are the vehicles therapist and client use to carry them to deeper, fuller awareness and understanding. The anxiety and depression which underlies the specific problems can be experienced as the waterways those vehicles sail to awareness.

Clients have the freedom to explore what lies within, for one session or ten years. This choice belongs to the client.

Each partner will work with her/his own therapist in both individual and family therapy. The more fully individuals become self-aware, the more they are able to love and so to love their partner. The capacity to love can grow.

Education:

Rene was born in New York City. There he learned how to survive.

Rene graduated from Collegiate School in NYC in 1949. There he learned how to cooperate.

Rene graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1953. There he learned to rebel.

Rene graduated from Harvard University in 1960. There he learned to think and to introspect.

Rene graduated from University of California at Berkeley in 1968. There he learned joy under the tender tutelage of the 60's.

Rene and his late wife, Linda Meyerson Tillich, founded King Kalakaua Center for Humanistic psychotherapy in 1972. Being a Humanistic Administrator, he learned, was like herding cats but it worked. We are the oldest surviving group practice in Honolulu.

Linda and Rene attended workshops on humanistic psychology in the late 60's and 70's and became particular admirers of the work of Virgina Satir and Gregory Bateson.		 What to Expect:

You will sit in a small room with a tall, white haired man who is sitting in a leather easy chair, with a blanket on his lap and holding a notebook in which he scribbles illegible notes about what you are saying. You will be sitting either on a comfortable brown couch or a reddish brown chair that lends more support to your back. The room has a window looking out on our lovely Hawaii Kai Dog Park and you may be distracted by the dogs. You will spend a session with Rene during which he will encourage you to talk about yourself, your feelings, your past history, your goals and your relationships. He will be watching closely to see if there are feelings associated with what you are saying and he will encourage you to express those. At the end of the session, he may summarize and make some suggestions. If you bring him a dream, meaning a dream you had while sleeping though he also welcomes your dreams and hopes, you will make him a very happy therapist and he will work with you to unravel what the dream is telling you. Rene believes dreams are letters from the unconscious to the conscious and are to be taken seriously. The goal of all this exploration is to increase self awareness so you can make more fully informed and freer choices in your life.
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