Shrink Rap Radio

About Dr. Dave

When outside of the pod, “Dr. Dave” is also known as David Van Nuys, Ph.D. He is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Sonoma State University and served as that department’s Chair for seven years. The department has a longstanding reputation for its commitment to humanistic, transpersonal, and existential approaches to psychology. He has also taught psychology at the University of Montana, the University of Michigan, and the University of New Hampshire. He has served as a dissertation advisor for doctoral students at Saybrook Institute and the Institute for Integral Studies, among others.

David also runs a market research consulting business www.e-focusgroups.com which has served a distinguished list of clients, including The New York Times, Apple Computer, IBM, Hewlett Packard, and QuickenLoans, among others. He was on the board of directors of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association and served as Editor-in-Chief for that organization’s magazine, QRCA VIEWS. He has also served on the board of the Humanistic Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association.

David received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan and has worked as a licensed psychotherapist in both California and New Hampshire. He has led and/or co-led personal growth workshops at various growth centers around the U.S. and abroad including Ireland, Kauai, Mallorca, Switzerland, and Sweden.

David also periodically posts to his blog, “The Happiness Dispatch,” for the Psychology Today magazine.

For a number of years, David also hosted another psychology interview series on topics in Mental Health, Wellness and Psychotherapy called, “Wise Counsel Podcast.” Currently these interviews can be found by clicking here. When you click on the link, you will be taken to a long list of interview transcripts.  If you want to actually listen to the interview, notice that there is a blue icon of a disc at the top left of each of the transcripts, clicking on that blue icon will take you to the audio!

In 2012, David joined the advisory board of the online journal, The International Journal of Neuropsychotherapy.

In 2013, David was invited to post weekly selected episodes from Shrink Rap Radio to the Armed Forces Radio Network in support of U.S. service men and women and their families and U.S. government employees around the world.

In 2018, he received an award from the American Psychological Association for his pioneering podcast. The award was presented at Harvard University by the APA president before a crowd of several hundred educational podcasters.

David has always been a person with wide ranging hobbies and passions, which back in 2005 was Podcasting, which he saw as “The Next Big Thing.” Over the years he has been involved in ham radio, sport judo, freight train hopping, Yoga, folk guitar, recorder, piano, didjeridu, sky diving, flying sailplanes, windsurfing, mountain biking, road cycling, motorcycles, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, and Tai Chi.

My Digital Legacy

David has made sure that the entire collection of Shrink Rap Radio interviews will be available well into the future by placing the whole collection in the non-profit online resource: The Internet Archive.