Carolyn Attneave


Carolyn Attneave was born in El Paso, Texas to Scandinavian and Delaware Native American parents, she spent most of her childhood moving from one city to another. Her culturally aware upbringing would go on to influence her decision to research diversity. She earned a B.A. in English and Theatre at California State University in 1940. After spending some years as a school teacher, she earned both her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1947 and 1952, respectively.

Career and research

Carolyn was an American psychologist best known for founding network therapy and for working with cross-cultural topics in her research. In 1962, Attneave relocated to Oklahoma to work for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, where she worked to provide mental health services to seven Native American tribes in the area. This work would go on to influence her later efforts to provide Native American-specific mental health treatment. In 1968, she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to work at the Child Guidance Clinic. It was here that she began to focus on network therapy, an alternative to hospitalization in which the clients focus on their personal networks that may include their families and neighborhood communities. In an attempt to gain a better cultural understanding of the cultural contexts of her clients, she relocated to a primarily black area of Philadelphia, where she was able to understand different therapy networks. In 1973, her book Family Networks, written with Ross Speck, was published. Later, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts and founded the Network of Indian Psychologists, which went on to become the Society of Indian Psychologists. Beginning in 1973, she began her teaching career at Harvard University's School of Public Health, and later joined the faculty of the University of Washington, where she spent the last 15 years of her career. She continued in her work in network therapy and community services until her death in 1992.

Tributes

The Carolyn Attneave Diversity Award, given out annually by the American Psychological Association, is named after her and recognizes "the promotion of diversity in family psychology."
In 2019 Stanford University’s Serra House where the Clayman Institute for Gender Research is located was renamed the Carolyn Lewis Attneave House. It was formerly named after Junípero Serra.