Shary Nunan, a graduate of Yale University (B.A. 1975) and California School of Professional Psychology (Ph.D. 1980) has been a licensed psychologist since January 1982. She has worked with children, teens and families for the past 25 years, providing individual and family therapy, and psychometric assessment. Currently, her work is divided into three primary areas:
Psychotherapy
Dr. Nunan uses an eclectic approach to individual and family problems, drawing primarily on psychodynamic theory, control-mastery theory, and cognitive-behavioral theory and practice. When working with children, she utilizes a combination of talk and play therapy, conjoint sessions with parents and, when needed, sessions with children and their parents together to work through problems in areas such as behavioral problems in school and/or at home, sibling conflicts, or parent-child conflicts. When working with individual adults, family of origin issues, the client’s current life experiences, and the therapist-client relationship are all explored as part of the therapy.
School for Independent Learners
For many years, Dr. Nunan provided psychometric assessments for children and teens with learning problems, and worked with educational professionals in efforts to address their needs. This work has spawned a recent and exciting addition to Dr. Nunan’s work—the opening of a branch of the School For Independent Learners, a WASC accredited educational program that has been in existence in Los Altos, California for the past five years. Originally the inspiration of Herman Ohme, M.Ed., SIL offers one-to-one teaching of high school courses for credit. The unique aspect of this program is that students are able to work at their own pace, moving on only when they master an area. If a student tests poorly, s/he is retaught and retested until success is achieved, in order to insure that motivation and self-esteem remain high. Students can attend full-time, or take a course while enrolled in their current high school. Dr. Nunan is co-director of the program with Karen Hobbs, Ph.D., also a clinical psychologist. Teachers in the program are either credentialed, or non-credentialed with a minimum of a B.A. and previous teaching experience, and all are subject matter experts. To find out more about this program, visit our website.
I have consulted with Shary Nunan for nearly ten years. She is one of a small handful of clinicians who can integrate assessment data concerning the child’s emotional life with data concerning the child’s learning needs. Along with being a superior assessment psychologist, she is also an unusually intelligent, experienced and compassionate clinician.
Candis Cousins, Ph.D. Neuropsychologist
Shary Nunan and I have worked together for many years on providing assessments for children and teens with special learning needs. Dr. Nunan has shown an excellent ability to provide thorough and accurate assessments. Also, she easily develops good rapport with children and teen clients whom I have referred for psychological therapy.
Deborah McCabe, M.Ed., Educational Consultant
Divorce and Custody Work
Over the past 15 years, Dr. Nunan has developed a wealth of experience working with families of divorce, including high conflict cases that are court referred. Her work includes conducting custody evaluations, acting as Special Master, and providing mediation, co-parenting therapy, and adult/child therapy. She completed a dissertation in 1980 entitled, “Joint Custody Versus Single Custody: Effects on Child Development.” For more information about this dissertation, click here.
Having known Shary Nunan professionally for over twenty years both as a therapist and as a custody evaluator, I have observed her exceptional capabilities in working with families of divorce. Dr. Nunan is an intelligent, compassionate and gifted clinician, and is well known in the Bay Area as one of our most experienced and capable custody evaluators. Having worked at A Step Forward in Concord for ten years (focusing on child abuse and custody work), I am particularly attentive to the complex issues of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Shary Nunan is one of the few clinicians I would refer with confidence cases involving these complex assessment and treatment issues.
Mary McFarland, L.C.S.W. Private Practice, Oakland;
Former Partner at A Step Forward, Concord, CA.