BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Janice Cohn is a psychotherapist with a doctorate in clinical social work. She's been dedicated to helping adults and children cope with grief, loss and life transitions and has lectured widely on these topics. Additionally, Dr. Cohn works extensively with people in the arts, an interest fueled by her experiences as an author, newspaper columnist and playwright.
Her former newspaper column for the Family Times Section of The Washington Times, which focused on raising compassionate children, ran for over two years and reached approximately half a million people. She is a former Presidential Faculty Appointee to the Columbia University Continuing Education Seminar on Death and Dying, and former chairperson of the Multidisciplinary Bereavement Committee of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
Dr. Cohn has served as a special consultant to the Family Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in Ocean County, New Jersey, focusing on the emotional needs of children and parents during the process of separation and divorce. She has also developed, for the courts, a special parent education program and accompanying video for divorcing parents. In conjunction with this project, she has written an educational handbook, Surviving the Pain of Divorce: Eight Steps for Parents and Children, which has been distributed throughout the state via the family court system.
Dr. Cohn's book, I had a Friend Named Peter: Talking With Children About the Death of a Friend (William Morrow, 1987) has been cited for excellence by a number of educational organizations and has received critical praise from publications such as The New York Times Book Review and The School Library Journal. Her second book, Why Did It Happen? Helping Children Cope In A Violent World (Morrow, 1994) was chosen as a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and has been praised by The School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly, among other publications. A third book, Molly's Rosebush (Albert Whitman, 1994), which deals with a young child's reaction to her mother’s miscarriage, was equally well received. The Christmas Menorahs: How A Town Fought Hate has received and/or been nominated for more than a dozen national awards. It was first published by Albert Whitman in 1995 and a revised and expanded 30th anniversary edition was released in 2023.
Dr. Cohn practices psychotherapy in Montclair, New Jersey and does telemedicine sessions for New York and New Jersey residents. She can be reached via email at drjanicecohn@aol.com or by phone at her Montclair, NJ office at 973-509-2320.