Michele Weiner-Davis

Michele Weiner-Davis
Michele Weiner-Davis in 2007
Born	New York City, New York
Education	Grinnell College, University of Kansas
Occupation	marriage therapist, author
Known for	Solution focused brief therapy, Divorce Busting
Website	www.DivorceBusting.com

Michele Weiner-Davis is a licensed clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist and author in the field of family therapy. She is frequently quoted in the media and has been interviewed on television news programs regarding divorce prevention. Weiner-Davis has often been referred to as The Divorce Buster after coining the term “divorce busting” at an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) conference in 1989. She currently writes a regular column, Divorce Busting: Musings From an Unabashed Marriage Saver in Psychology Today.

Weiner-Davis grew up in New York City along with two brothers. She has described her young childhood as idyllic, similar to the "Walton Family". During Weiner-Davis' senior year in high school, her parents divorced after twenty-three years of marriage. Her mother had been speaking with a therapist for several years, and she had been advised by the therapist that the differences between her and her husband were irreconcilable. Because of her parents' divorce, and due to the fact that many family counselors considered divorce to be a therapeutic option as a first resort in the 1960s, Weiner-Davis became a believer in the sanctity of marriage and a champion for saving the relationships of others.

Weiner-Davis has two children, a son and a daughter, and has been married since 1977.

Weiner-Davis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 from Grinnell College. She then earned a Master's Degree in Social Work (MSW) in 1977 from the University of Kansas. She began her early career in private practice, counseling young couples with relationship issues. During this time in her career, she believed that a separation was inevitable if one spouse had pre-determined that they wanted a divorce. In those situations, Weiner-Davis would counsel the couples on how to make the divorce easier on the family.

During the 1980s, while working with the McHenry County Youth Service Bureau in , Illinois, she became involved with Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg and his team at the The Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was part of the group of researchers that made contributions in the field of psychotherapy to help develop what is known as Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT).