The Staying Young Show: Raising Healthy Kids

Our guest Dr. Frances Walfish, Psy.D. is a leading child, couple and family Psychotherapist in private practice in Beverly Hills, California. Her caring approach, exuberant style, humor, and incisive insights have earned her a sterling reputation in the field. Author of The Self-Aware Parent: Resolving Conflict and Building a Better Bond with Your Child.

Fran Walfish

Dr. Fran Walfish began her career when she was hired onto the professional staff of the Julia Ann Singer Preschool Psychiatric Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the young age of eighteen. She worked as a Psychotherapist, providing individual, group, and family therapy to emotionally disturbed children and their families. She went on to receive her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Ryokan College. She did her internship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center under the supervision of pioneering psychiatrist Dr. Saul L. Brown. Over the years, Dr. Walfish has served a diverse patient population, including working class families as well as Hollywood’s elite, and has achieved recognition as a respected child development specialist and parent educator. For five years, she worked as a school psychologist to eight hundred children at a private school in Beverly Hills. In 1991, Barry Diller and Sidney Sheinberg tapped Dr. Walfish to represent the Hollywood Support HIV/AIDS education campaign throughout the U.S., appearing in numerous televised public service announcements.

Dr. Walfish’s professional affiliations include the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the Association of Child Development Specialists, and the American Psychological Association. She is Chair of the Board of the Early Childhood Parenting Center, founded at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She is also a former member of the Board of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Mann Family Early Childhood Center, and Caring for Babies with AIDS.

Dr. Walfish has addressed parent groups and teacher trainings at many of the foremost private schools and early childhood centers on the West Coast, including Oakwood School, the Hollywood Montessori Center, the Bureau of Jewish Education, the Warner Brothers Child Care Center, and the Samuel Goldwyn Children’s Center. She has also spoken at churches and synagogues, and on panels at large national conferences for parents. Among the topics she’s addressed are “Our Children in Crisis” and “Dealing with Temper Tantrums, Anger, and Limit-Setting as Your Child’s Supportive Coach.”

Dr. Walfish is a frequent guest on top-tier TV programs, including NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and KABC-TV Los Angeles, and often appears in major publications such as Parents Magazine, Family Circle and Woman’s Day. She has a weekly Q & A column in the Beverly Hills Courier. Her book, The Self-Aware Parent: Resolving Conflict and Building A Better Bond with Your Child from Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press, is now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. William Morris Endeavor and Lake Paradise Entertainment are presently collaborating with Dr. Walfish to produce a television series offering therapeutic guidance and help to families in America.

Dr. Fran\'s Website