Terry White, M.F.T.
Marriage Family Therapist

Upon finishing graduate school twenty years ago, Terry White sought ways to initiate productive and innovative practices in his newfound craft of clinical psychology and psychotherapy.

Terry graduated with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute in its very early days.  He was passionate about dreams, art-therapy, sand-play, developmental psychology and family systems (including parenting), as well as analysis. He found himself discussing eating disorder treatment with his wife, Francie White M.S.R.D., a dietitian who was practicing in her own clinical setting.  Francie had increasingly found herself facing an undiagnosed pathology that was rapidly becoming evident in our culture.  At that time there were no names in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for the eating disorders that she was encountering in her practice.

Over the next decade Terry and Francie assembled teams of professionals, doing their best to help clients contend with this emerging and escalating cultural phenomenon. These experiences offered Terry the opportunity to apply his education and training with the intention of finding the most effective formula to treat these issues. This has become an ongoing process which, in fact, continues to teach him.

After his first decade in practice, Terry was certified by The Board of Behavioral Sciences to offer continuing education credits for nurses, social workers, therapists and psychologists.   He and Francie produced workshops around the country, training eating-disorder professionals in retreat settings in upstate New York, Hawaii, Texas and The San Juan Islands.  They also hosted annual trainings in Santa Barbara, California.

Terry eventually returned to clinical work, founding a new program in this region, the Central Coast Intensive Outpatient (Eating Disorder) Program.  This program is a standard of care accepted by the majority of insurance companies.  We provide treatment and support that is intended to supplement individual treatment and precludes residential hospitalization. Our program is designed to coordinate with school and work schedules.  Central Coast IOP is now operational in locations serving the San Luis Obispo area, the Santa Ynez Valley, and Santa Barbara.

For the past four years, Terry has served as Clinical Director, supervising CCIOP’s therapists and dietitians.  Terry works directly with our clientele and coordinates services with referring physicians and therapists.  The referring physicians and therapists remain directly involved with, and an essential part of, The Central Coast Intensive Outpatient Program treatment team.