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Close up of Thomas Plante in front of the Santa Clara University wisteria in the Mission Gardens
Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. | Professor, SCU Psychology Department

Thomas G. Plante

Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP is the Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J., University Professor and professor of psychology at Santa Clara University and adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

He has served as psychology department chair, acting dean of the school of education, and director of the spirituality and health institute at Santa Clara University.  He recently served as vice-chair of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and is past-president of the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (Division 36) of the American Psychological Association.

He has authored and edited 23 books including: Living Well: Doing the Right Thing for Body, Mind, Spirit, and Communities (2018, Nova), Healing with Spiritual Practices: Proven Techniques for Disorders from Addiction to Anxiety to Cancer and Chronic Pain (2018, Praeger), Graduating with Honor: Best Practices to Promote Ethics Development in College Students (2017, Praeger), Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis, 2002-2012 (2011, Praeger), Spiritual Practices in Psychotherapy: Thirteen Tools for Enhancing Psychological Health (2009, American Psychological Association), Do the Right Thing: Living Ethically in an Unethical World (2004, New Harbinger), Contemporary Clinical Psychology (1999, 2005, 2010, Wiley), as well as published over 200 scholarly professional journal articles and book chapters.

He has been featured in numerous media outlets including Time Magazine, CNN, NBC Nightly News, the PBS News Hour, New York Times, USA Today, BBC, NPR, among many others. He has evaluated or treated more than 950 priests and applicants to the priesthood and diaconate and has served as a consultant for a number of Church dioceses and religious orders.  He maintains a private practice in Menlo Park, CA where he lives with his wife, Lori (also a psychologist). Their son, Zach, is a student at Dartmouth College.

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