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Volunteer Legal Service Program (VLSP)ShareAugust Spotlight: Psychologist Finds Volunteer Work Challenging and Rewarding
By Julie Rosenthal, Social Services Director, Homeless Advocacy Project, VLSP
This month the Volunteer Legal Services Program (VLSP) is privileged to honor Dr. Edward Gould, a psychologist who has volunteered with VLSP for nearly 15 years. Dr. Gould was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut and moved to Los Angeles during World War II. He received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from UCLA, completing his PhD in Psychology in 1965.
Dr. Gould first learned of VLSP while volunteering at the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness. He also served on outreach teams that worked to improve conditions in the city’s homeless shelters. It was through his participation in these teams and attendance at related workshops that brought him into direct contact with several staff members of VLSP’s Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP). During that time he developed great admiration and respect for the services that HAP provided and offered to provide free individual therapy to clients. In early 2009, Dr. Gould worked with a HAP client, a transsexual woman, over a three month period. He found working with her to be both a challenging and very rewarding experience. During their sessions Dr. Gould learned a great deal about many of the issues and struggles which transsexual people confront. He hopes that their sessions were useful as the client worked to resolve the struggles surrounding her sexual identity. Since retiring in 1991, Dr. Gould has spent much of his time creating art, specifically drawing and printmaking. He also spends more time with family and friends as well as travelling. |
Dr. Gould has lived in the Bay Area since 1968. He worked as a clinical psychology faculty member at UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry from 1968-1983 and as a staff psychologist at the Veterans Home in Yountville, CA from 1983- 1991.