Michael J. Belcher This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. www.buckeyefamily.com

   www.buckeyefamily.com/xaboutus - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/5/2007   Last Visited: 5/5/2007

   Michael J. Belcher (a.k.a. "Doc") was born, and raised, in the Pacific Northwest. He began college in 1966, received his B.A. degree in 1969 with majors in psychology and sociology, and received his M.A. degree in 1971, after earning it by the end of 1970, with majors in clinial psychology and sociology. He received both his B.A. and M.A. from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.
   
   Doc then went to Chicago in 1971, where he received a Ph.D. in psychology in 1973, from Illinois Institute of Techology (I.I.T.). Yes, it was an earned degree that normally takes 5 years, give or take a year. You might say that he was in a hurry. In any event, I.I.T. gave him the flexibility he needed to accellerate his studies.
   
   During the summers of 1972 and 1974, he studied communal service work at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, where he received graduate certification in Jewish Communal Service Work. Subsequently, he received an M.B.A. from the University of Dayton in 1982.
   
   As an undergraduate, Doc played sports and worked at different jobs during his freshman year. During that first year, he lived in camper on the back of his truck on the university parking lot because he didn't have sufficient financial resources to live in a dorm or apartment and pay for his tuition and books. At the end of his freshman year, Doc obtained a job as a hospital orderly at the local State Hospital for the mentally ill, where he worked on the maximum security unit, probably due to his high school and college wrestling skills, even though he did not meet the height and weight requirements for the unit. He worked there until he finished earning his M.A. He then worked as a social worker for the State of Washington until he went to Chicago. He had worked part-time as a bouncer throughout his university days, and then, he continued to work one half to three quarters time as bouncer while in graduate school in Chicago.
   
   Doc has worked as a a community mental health center psychologist, a hospital psychologist, a pediatric psychologist, executive director of a mental health center, a division head in a childrens hospital, a substance abuse treatment center psychologist, has taught part-time at several different universities. In 1975, he went into private practice specializing in serving the chronically mentally ill.
   
   Doc's wife (Francine), whom he married in January 1975, had a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in economics. Subsequent to their marriage, Fran completed a M.A. in Counseling. Over twenty years later, she earned and received a M.S.W. from Ohio State University. She became part of the management team when Doc started the Buckeye Family.