MARILYN L. STEELE, PH.D.

B.S. (6/76) Psychology –
Univ. of WA, Seattle, WA

Ph.D. (8/86) Child Clinical Psychology
Univ. of WA, Seattle, WA

Dissertation:
Two Parent/Child Problem Solving Training Models for Low-Income, Minority Head Start Families,” University of Washington, June 1986.”

MARILYN L. STEELE is the Founder and Executive Director of Parenting Across Cultures (Company recently renamed from Consulting and Clinical Services, established 1986). She received her BS degree in Psychology in 1976 and her Ph.D. in Child Clinical Psychology in 1986 from the University of Washington. Her clinical internship was conducted at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute, with special emphasis on working with children and parents with developmental disabilities.

Dr. Steele has developed and evaluated two Head Start curriculums, A Problem-Solving Parent Training Model for Minority Head Start Parents and Focusing on the Parent: A Home Base Model. She has co-authored several additional programs, including the Parent Enhancement/Education Program; a program for adoptive parents of minority children, Bridging Cultures; a program for fathers, Raising Children With Pride; a mentoring program for African-American Youth, Reaching Back – Giving Back; an Infant School-Readiness Program; and a male/female socialization program, All I Need To Know. Her most widely utilized curriculum, Strengthening Multi-Ethic Families and Communities was developed in 1994 and is currently being utilized in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia.

As a training specialist, Dr. Steele has trained over 6,000 facilitators to implement a variety of culturally-sensitive parent programs. She began training facilitators in 1989 as the National Trainer for the Effective Black Parenting Program with the Center for Child Caring (CICC). In 1994 she started conducting facilitator training workshops for the Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families and Communities Program: A Parent Program Promoting Peace.

Dr. Steele is perhaps best known for her facilitation skills, and her warm and humanistic training style. She shares her professional experiences of working with over 65 parent groups, and she models how to provide a safe and supportive learning environment. She openly shares her personal challenges as a parent in raising her son, Miles, believing that no one has the "right" answer, and that "parents have the right – as well as the responsibility – to decide what works best for their family."

[BACK]