I am Maximilian E. Fuentes Fuhrmann, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist and I can help:

Maximilian E. Fuentes Fuhrmann received his B.A. in psychology in 1981, M.A. and Ph.D. from the renowned clinical-aging psychology program in 1984 and 1988, all from the University of Southern California. He was also one of the first to obtain a certificate in gender studies from the Study of Women and Men in Society (SWMS) program at USC, in 1981. His dissertation concerned the phenomenon of androgyny in later life and how it influences marital and life satisfaction in the elderly. He is a member of the Los Angeles and Ventura Counties' Psychological Associations, the World Professional Association for Transgendered Health (WPATH) and the Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association.

In 1996, Dr. Fuhrmann became the second psychologist in California to be elected President of a Medical staff at Pacific Shores Geropsychiatric Hospital in Oxnard. He has taught part-time in the Psychology Department of California State Northridge (CSUN) since 1990 and is a member of the CSUN Center for Sex and Gender Research. He holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the USC School of Social Work. Additionally, he taught a course on gender and sexuality in the graduate program in psychology at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. He has also been on the part time faculty of California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI).

Since 1992, he has primarily worked as a clinical psychologist in private practice, specializing in geriatrics and GLBT concerns with offices in Beverly Hills and Thousand Oaks. He works from a cognitive behavioral and reality therapy perspective. His work is action and goal oriented with emphasis on self empowerment and responsibility for overcoming internalized shame and guilt. His clients can be quite diverse ranging form middle aged children struggling to help their aging parents to individuals in their 20s struggling with sexual or gender identity issues. He also provides home visits to the elderly who are physically unable to come into the office.

Since 1995, he has worked as an advocate for the GLBT community. He conceptualized and facilitated 3 retreats for transgendered men and one for transgendered couples. He also tries to raise awareness of the potential needs of the elderly within these communities.

Since 2004, Dr. Fuhrmann has provided over 1000 hours of continuing education and graduate training in aging for licensed mental health professionals and social work, marriage and family and psychology students .

In 2006, he co-authored, with Jeff Shevlowitz, Sagacity: What I Learned from My Elderly Psychotherapy Clients.  A sequel to this work is in progress which concerns how adult children struggle to care for their aging relatives.

Lastly, Dr. Fuhrmann works from the perspective of being different from others as a person of Mexican, German and Polish ancestry, who was the first person in his immediate family to attend college. His roots are working class and he appreciates the need to keep the cost of psychotherapy from being prohibitive.