About Us
We would like to be your family’s primary care doctors for emotional health throughout your lifetime. All of us need help from time to time, and the doctors and staff at Dr. Nancy Bacher and Associates will make every attempt to provide the highest level of professional care in a warm, inviting, and supportive environment. Our doctors see people of all ages, and work in many different modalities tailoring the treatment to the needs of each patient.
Bio: Dr. Nancy Bacher
Dr. Nancy Bacher founder of Dr. Nancy Bacher & Associates is dually licensed as both a clinical and school psychologist Dr. Bacher was a University School Assistant Professor for 23 years at Florida Atlantic University and also served as a clinical instructor in the department of Behavioral Medicine at Nova Southeastern University. She has extensive experience in Adult therapy such as depression, anxiety, stress, executive stress and work related issues. Dr. Bacher works well with children and adolescent behavior problems as well as marriage and family psychotherapy. One of her specialties is dealing with the effects of divorce on children and families and serves as a parenting coordinator for the court system. Dr. Bacher also serves as an expert witness for the Dade, Broward and Palm Beach circuit court systems. Dr. Bacher’s 33 year experience in learning disability, gifted and personality testing will provide you with the confidence and trust in the results of the evaluations.
From the inception of the Florida division of the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, Dr. Bacher served as President for ten years and has treated many people suffering from grief reactions from the loss of loved ones to suicide and all other different types of losses.
Dr. Nancy Bacher has used psychological problems as predictable patterns of human behavior that may occur at different times of a person’s life due to biological or social stressors. Since Dr. Bacher views all problems, no matter how severe, as just behavior she is able to maintain a non-judgmental attitude and use her energy to assist the person in understanding the problem, taking responsibility for it, and finding an effective solution. This results in the person feeling better about themselves and makes them more able to affect change.
Dr. Bacher has used her keen insights into individual behavior to advocate for mental health and the betterment of our society. For this she has been recognized by her peers as a leader in her field. Dr. Bacher is the recipient of the American Psychological Association prestigious Heiser award which is given to psychologists who have greatly advocated for issues in the field of psychology.
From the early onset of her career Dr. Nancy Bacher learned from her group studies at Harvard University that all behavior is predictable. Her accepting, non judgmental approach allows her to teach people to realize that their problems are just behaviors and helps them to find solutions.
Other positions and achievements:
- President Dade County Psychological Association
- President Florida Psychological Association
- Board of Directors – American Psychological Association
- Psychologist of the year- FPA
- Distinguished psychologist- FPA
- Maintaining High Standards of Ethics and Service within the profession of psychology award- FPA
- Presidential Citation for the distinguished career advocating on behalf of the profession- APA
Bio: Dr. Blanche Freund
Dr. Freund’s first career was in nursing with a specialty in sex therapy. In addition to sex therapy, for the last 20+ years, Dr Freund has specialized in treating anxiety disorders within a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) framework. She worked with her mentor, Dr. Edna Foa, for 14 years in a clinical research program in Philadelphia at and was on the MCP Psychiatry department faculty. Dr. Foa’s research grants focused on evidence based treatments for OCD and PTSD. During this earlier period and then more recently at the University of Miami she coordinated psychopharmacological studies. She understands the benefits of both treatments and the special efficacy of combined CBT and drug treatments.
Clinically, Dr. Freund has treated well over 100 adult and adolescent clients in intensive behavior treatment (exposure and response prevention) for OCD and treated PTSD sufferers with evidence based therapies such as prolonged exposure and EMDR. In her South Florida practice, she continues to specialize in these areas with the addition of specific phobias (i.e. fear of flying, and other specific fears), social anxiety, panic, and generalized anxiety (debilitating worries).
In association with her anxiety clients she has treated many with co-occurring depression.
Dr. Freund has maintained her clinical interest in CBT and has been training and supervising Clinical Psychology graduate students at University of Miami (UM) Trauma Treatment program and has been associated with UM HIV treatment studies. Because of her years of advanced training in prolonged exposure methods and with certification in EMDR, she trains, lectures and supervises these methods with advanced graduate students. Relative to these specialties she has been on the Today Show and Dateline demonstrating them.
Early on in her psychology career and overlapping with her nursing education Dr. Freund became an expert in sex therapy and has been active in leadership of many sex therapy and psychological organizations. She just concluded her presidency commitment for an international sex therapy society, Society for Sex Therapy and Research (SSTAR), www.sstarnet.org. Currently she is the secretary to the Palm Chapter of the Florida Psychological Association.
Working with CBT interventions can be a successful short-term therapy for most anxiety and depression sufferers and lends itself to bringing quick relief from fears, panic, and anxiety. It is an interactive therapy and requires motivated clients who with more rapid improvement build their confidence.