Hinda Winawer, MSW, LCSW, has provided psychotherapy to individuals, families and couples for more than 25 years. Licensed in New Jersey, she is co-founder of Princeton Family Institute and has taught family and couples therapy at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Social Work and for many years at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York where she is now faculty emerita. Hinda Winawer has been a psychotherapist, clinical trainer, teacher and consultant in academic, clinical, healthcare, educational, human services and addictions settings in the United States, Europe, Latin America and China. Her systemic consultation extends to the workplace where she has conducted staff development retreats in health and mental health settings. Author of various professional articles and book chapters, she was a long-term member of the editorial board of the journal Family Process. Professional association membership includes the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, the American Orthopsychiatric Association, the Association for Women in Psychology, and the National Association of Social Workers. Hinda Winawer is a charter member, former board member and past president of the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA).
Ms. Winawer was also co-founder and former Executive Director of The Center for Family, Community, & Social Justice, Inc. which for twenty years provided cutting edge family therapy for children and teens in nine New Jersey school districts. Because of their economic circumstances, those children and families were least likely to be able to access quality care. Independent outcome studies revealed that 87-92% of High School students in the program either remained in school or graduated.
She works in collaboration with those who come to her practice. She believes that people must be respected and that their situations be understood in their uniqueness and complexity. When ethnic/cultural heritage and religious beliefs are important to individuals and families, they become part of our conversation in therapy. Treatment, therefore, is specifically tailored to each individual, couple or family. Hinda Winawer often collaborates with allied healthcare and/or educational professionals to coordinate care. For children, the burden of change should not be on them; parents are therefore essential partners in the treatment process.
Hinda Winawer works with a range of challenges including anxiety, depression, school refusal, couple and family conflict. She has often convened adult family meetings to heal intergenerational conflict. Additionally, she has worked to help families navigate the often-uncharted waters of holding on to love and connection when one member’s identity as LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual or Allied) is at variance with the family’s values. Similarly, she addresses substance abuse as a relational phenomenon and sees families as deeply affected by and integral to the process of recovery. Additionally, engaging the family to address gastrointestinal symptoms in children has yielded good outcomes.
Hinda Winawer’s personal life is enriched by her husband, their four grown children, children-in-law, grandchildren, a love of music and a deep commitment to social justice.