Experience and Education
Anita’s leadership coaching and organizational consulting career developed as a result of the interactions of several educational and professional experiences. After doctoral study in psychology, she was immersed in clinical internship training that focused on systems psychology. The assertion that the basic unit in culture and organizations is the relationship, and that growth and change emerges in the context of interconnected relationships between individuals, groups, teams and other cultural units remains important.
During postdoctoral work in developmental neuropathology followed by a faculty position at Northwestern Medical School, Anita practiced as a clinician-scientist. The essential nature of research science as a guide to analyzing problems and experimenting to discover new solutions became essential to her approach to all endeavors.
As a faculty member the clinical anchor in her work was a strong multi-disciplinary team, confirming the belief that we do our best work as individual leaders in the context of teams. Later, out-patient service as a partner in a mental health practice highlighted that community and family health is a function of active complementarity between our workplace and family identities and roles.
Training as both a coach and a clinical psychologist puts Dr. Stauffer in a unique position to support clients in addressing what matters most, reaching performance goals and managing the barriers that may not show up in conscious awareness. She is a licensed clinical psychologist who received her doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky, her internship at IJR at the University of Illinois Medical Center, and her Post-doctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University Medical School. She is a member of both the American Psychological Association Division of Consulting Psychology, and the Society of Psychologists in Leadership.
