Claude Barbre

Claude Barbre serves as a Distinguished Full Professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology's College of Professional Psychology. With over 25 years of clinical experience, he coordinates the Psychodynamics Concentration in the Psy.D. Program and leads the Psychology and Spirituality focus of study. His career spans academic, clinical, and community roles across New York and Chicago.

Dr. Barbre's research integrates psychology with religion, spirituality, and the humanities. His clinical work emphasizes foster care systems, child and adolescent development in poverty contexts, and cross-cultural therapeutic approaches. He has pioneered school-based psychoanalytic training programs serving underserved communities, including directing The Harlem Family Institute which provided 60,000 therapy sessions to Harlem residents.

His 13 recent publications reveal consistent focus on psychoanalytic theory (particularly Otto Rank's work), trauma ethics, and religion-spirituality integration. Key themes include creative will psychology, death anxiety in marginalized populations, and critical examinations of fundamentalism. This body of work bridges clinical practice with philosophical inquiry across psychology, religion, and cultural studies.

• 5-time Gradiva Award recipient (National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis)
• Distinguished Achievement in Research and Writing Award (American Association of Pastoral Counselors, 2008)
• William B. Given Jr. Fellow (Episcopal Church Foundation)
• Daniel Day Williams Fellow in Psychiatry and Religion (Union Theological Seminary)
• Recipient of Margaret Morgan Lawrence Award (2010) for service to Harlem communities

As Editor-in-Chief of Gender and Psychoanalysis and Associate Editor of Journal of Religion and Health for 15 years, Dr. Barbre has shaped discourse at psychology-religion intersections. His clinical supervision extends through The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and hospital chaplaincy programs. Current grant work focuses on trauma-informed care in foster systems and spiritual dimensions of community mental health.

He maintains active clinical practice through Immigration Services (Law Office of Ruben Sanchez) and hospital chaplaincy roles, grounding theoretical work in direct service to vulnerable populations including refugees and urban youth.