Ofer Zur

Professional Life
Ofer Zur was born in Israel to a German psychologist mother and a Hungarian father. He entered the Israeli Defense Forces in 1973 as a lieutenant. After getting injured, Zur rehabilitated and then enlisted in the Merchant Marines. He spent time exploring the idea of entering the professional fishery field, and worked in Africa to investigate the opportunity further. Zur emigrated to the United States in 1979 and his interests shifted from the external world of diving, paratrooping and exploring, to the interal world of feeding minds and souls. He began to use his academic experience, coupled with his upbringing and strong desire to learn about psychology, to pursue an active career in the field.

Zur used the career change as a window to see into his own soul and discover the healing he needed to achieve to come to terms with his war experiences. He spent some time in Cambridge, Massachusetts and then relocated to Berkeley, California, where he was an Adjunct Faculty member at the California School of Professional Psychology. Zur also acted as Associate Program Director of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and lent his expertise to the Criminal Justice mental Health Department of the Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center as a Rehabilitation Counselor of Forensic Psychology. In addition to serving as a core faculty member at the California Institute of Integral Studies at the Graduate School in Psychology in San Francisco, Zur also maintained a robust private practice during his time in San Francisco. In 1988, Zur relocated to Northern California and settled in Sonoma.

Zur spent many years advocating for quality care from managed systems. But in the 2000’s, his focus shifted to addressing the barriers and obstacles that faced the field of psychotherapy, specifically therapeutic relationships, pathologizing systems, and ethical issues. He collaborated with his colleague Arnold Lazarus, and they released the groundbreaking book Dual Relationships in Psychotherapy in 2002, which was the first of its kind to challenge the questionable therapeutic boundaries and ethical reaches of therapists and to address the idea of non-pathologizing the client. His latest book, Boundaries in Psychotherapy: Ethical and Clinical Explorations, was published in 2007.

Contribution to Psychology
Zur had been intimately involved with managed healthcare and has acted as an advocate for quality care under a managed system. He founded The Zur Institute in Sonoma, California, in an effort to provide education and ongoing training to clinicians and to provide the community with the services and information they deserve in order to achieve their mental health goals in a non-pathologizing way. Aside from remaining active in The Zur Institute and throughout the world as an advocate for mental health, Zur continues to research, teach, consult, and take an active stand on clinical, ethical, and moral issues.

Ofer Zur Featured on GoodTherapy.org

Dr. Zur is a featured presenter on GoodTherapy.org, sharing his knowledge in GoodTherapy.org continuing education Web Conferences for clinicians.

• In March, 2011 Zur presented Digital Ethics and Social Networking in Psychotherapy and Counseling
• In October, 2010 Zur presented a four part series called 21st Century Ethics: Emerging Digital, Boundaries, and Standard of Care Issues
• In July, 2010 Zur presented A Thriving Practice in Any Economy: Enjoy a Fee-For-Service Psychotherapy Practice Outside Managed Care