Staff

We are delighted about the opportunity to work with Joshua DeSilva, Psy.D., CGP (they/them) as the Director of the next Leadership and Creative Expression Group Relations conference. Dr. DeSilva is a queer, Latinx psychologist and an Assistant Professor of clinical psychology at George Washington University (GWU) Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. DeSilva's research interests include applying psychoanalytic theory to groups and organizations, somatic and experiential approaches to psychotherapy (e.g., Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy or AEDP and Somatic Experiencing), and liberation psychology. Within the GWU PsyD program, Dr. DeSilva runs the Groups, Organizations, and Culture Lab (GOCL) which provides organizational assessment services to community organizations for free.

Dr. DeSilva also specializes in group and individual psychotherapy with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ populations. Dr. DeSilva's group work has been featured in instructional videos produced by the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as videos and webinars sponsored by the American Group Psychotherapy Association. Other recent group work has included serving as a consulting staff member of Leadership and Creative Expression 2023 at CSUDH, leading the first all-BIPOC large group consulting team at the American Group Psychotherapy Association's national conference for over one hundred attendees, as well as directing a group relations conference sponsored by the A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems that focused on Latine leadership and authority dynamics. They presented an APA-approved, CE bearing workshop titled "Queering Our Groups: Moving Beyond Inclusion" to the Atlanta Group Psychotherapy Society in November 2023. Locally, Dr. DeSilva is President-Elect of the Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society. Their service to the profession includes membership on the national AEDP Diversity, Belonging, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, as well as membership on the International Board for Certification of Group Psychotherapists.

Their family immigrated from Venezuela and maintains strong ties to Latin America. Growing up in the Midwest as a first generation American and attending college and graduate school as a first-generation student has powerfully impacted their sense of the importance (and difficulty) of empowering diverse groups to live and learn in spaces that have historically been oppressive and unwelcoming. In addition to teaching, organizational assessment, and running a part-time private practice, Dr. DeSilva was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam in 2020 to serve a four-year term on the Virginia Latino Advisory Board. In this role, they advised the Governor and General Assembly on Latinx affairs statewide. Dr. DeSilva has a passion for public service, community psychology, and connecting graduate students with community service and advocacy roles that authentically connect with their interests.

You can learn more about Josh DeSilva on LinkedIn and Psychology Today.