David G. Benner

David Gordon Benner (born February 9, 1947) is a Canadian depth psychologist, author and wisdom teacher.

Career
Benner followed his Honours BA in psychology at McMaster University with an MA and PhD in clinical psychology at York University. After registration with the College of Psychologists of Ontario, and licensing in the state of Illinois, he was certified as an expert witness in clinical psychology in both jurisdictions. He also completed post-doctoral studies at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Benner was professor and founding chair, Graduate Department of Psychological Studies at Wheaton College in Illinois, and chair of the Department of Psychology, Redeemer University College, in Ancaster, Ontario. In Toronto, he held overlapping appointments as Adjunct Professor (Psychology and Christianity), St. Michael's College, University of Toronto; Adjunct Clinical Professor, Graduate Department of Psychology, York University; and Adjunct Clinical Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He was later the founding director of the Institute for Psychospiritual Health, and in 2016 he became the founding director of Cascadia Living Wisdom.

Between 1973 and 2006, Benner was in private practice in Illinois and Ontario. Whereas his clinic-based practice focused on children and adolescents, particularly those suffering from abuse and experiencing dissociative disorders, his private practice focused on adults. Within this context he developed and offered an intensive, highly individualized, short-term (3 week) residential intervention that combined clinical and spiritual components. He offered these Intensive Soul Care Retreats and trained others to do the same for over 20 years.

Benner was Chief Psychologist at Child and Adolescent Services, Hamilton, Ontario and was named Associate Fellow at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria (Victoria, B.C.) in 2008.

Approach
The intersection of psychology and spirituality became his main interest during the 1970s. His general approach was described as a "multidisciplinary analysis of psychological change and spiritual development" that blends "insights from psychology, theology, anthropology, his own clinical practice, and other disciplines." Examining the role of spirituality in clinical practice in 1988, he noted "the chasm that had been dug between professional psychology and spiritual longing", and in 1989, published his views in an article on the nature of spirituality, its role in psychotherapy and a "nonreductionistic understanding of spirituality that situates it within the heart of an individual's psychological being." A retrospective study of Benner's model of human nature and its implications for educators and counselors, based on his writings since the late 1980s, was published in 2006. A later examination of changes in therapeutic work over two decades included Benner among leading researchers in the field of spirituality. By then, the focus of his writing and teaching was wisdom and the journey toward enlightenment that facilitated access to it. This work drew on a broad base of wisdom traditions, including Christian mysticism, Hermeticism, Indigenous spirituality, Depth psychology, and science.

Publications
David G. Benner has authored or edited more than thirty books. Early titles focused on the role of spirituality in clinical practice and were primarily written for psychologists and other mental health professionals. His middle-phase books focused on living the spiritual journey in a deeply human way and the human journey in a deeply spiritual way, and were written from an explicitly Christian perspective. Later books have been written for a more general audience and have continued to focus on the role of spirituality in human spiritual unfolding while drawing on science, philosophy and the perennial wisdom tradition for insights that are helpful in understanding spiritual awakening and enlightenment. These big themes of awakening, becoming fully human, and the possibilities of enlightenment have been at the core of all his books.

In addition to his books, he has also published articles in peer-reviewed journals of psychology in areas such as religious psychodynamics in multiple personality disorder, development of a psychological test for the assessment of marital communication, the psychology of money, and psychological trauma and social healing in Croatia. He also played a seminal role in the creation of a child trauma treatment program.

He was also editor of a reference encyclopedia in psychology and co-editor of a subsequent expanded edition for a readership of pastoral counselors and clergy, as well as editor of a ten-book series on strategic pastoral counseling resources. In a journal addressing the interface of psychology and spirituality, a reviewer wrote of Benner's body of work: "His research plumbs the best of human development psychology and ancient spirituality wisdom.... As a seasoned scholar, author, psychologist and a spiritual director, Benner serves as an expert witness of what healthy and whole humans look like...." His contribution of material for peer professionals continues, and his books have reached a broad general readership. More than two dozen of his titles are in print, and translations have been published in more than twenty languages.