CV

Peter M. Gero Ph.D., M.F.T.

EDUCATION:

1968   U.C.L.A.                        B.A.    History

1971   Pepperdine                 K-8      Lifetime California Teaching Credential

1985   Cal State L.A.              MA      Educational Administration

1985   U.S.C.                           M.S.    Counseling Psychology

1988   U.S.C.                           Ph.D.   Counseling Psychology

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

1969 – 2007                         Teacher K-8                            Los Angeles Unified School District

1981 – 2002                         Director                                   Tom Sawyer Camps Inc (Altadena)

1989 – Present                    Psychotherapist                     Private practice

1995 – Present                    President                                 Gero Professional Services

1997 -2019                    Founder/Owner/ Director       B.L.A.S.T. Social Skills Programs

 

ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES:

  • Written articles for National Camping Association magazines
  • Speaker at numerous camping association conventions, national and state
  • Trained teaching staffs at schools and camping staffs at summer camps

Conducted numerous parent-training workshops

  • Spoken at numerous schools and private venues on parenting issues
  • Attended numerous I.E.P. meetings at schools as a child advocate
  • Advocated for families in numerous cases involving D.C.F.S.
  • Written case summaries for Family Court and Dependency Court
  • Testified in Family Court and Dependency Court
  • Written book on Parenting: “A Thoughtful Parent – What Kids Have Told Me that I Can Tell You”

* What is the BLAST Social Skills Program?

  • In 1997, Dr. Gero was approached by Leonard Baker MD and Mike Horner, the CEO of Tom Sawyer Camps, and asked to create a program that would effectively help kids with deficits in social skills. The BLAST program was the result.
  • Building Lasting Social Skills Together uses a unique approach. Rather than teaching directly or lecturing, as done in a classroom, all the gains come from experiential learning. Kids play games and participate in activities specifically selected because they are fun and that are ripe with opportunities to interact. The children are grouped in pairs, threesomes or more and are asked to make decisions, solve conflicts and decide on game strategies. It is expected that some will exhibit poor coping skills when frustrated. Crying, temper tantrums, outbursts of anger as well as quitting the activity are addressed in how they effect peer relationships. The participants are asked to set personal behavioral goals and only they are permitted to evaluate their progress.
  • All feedback, whether positive or negative is given peer to peer. The staff neither compliments nor disparages each child. Their primary role is to elicit comments from kids to each other or directed towards themselves. Every BLAST meeting ends with a compliment circle where the children are encouraged to give specific positive acknowledgements to peers. Kids are grouped by similar ages, as young as 5 and as old as 24 and range in size from 6-14 participants.
  • Dr. Gero sold BLAST in 2019 to Katie Enney Psy D, but remains a minority owner and is still involved in staff and parent training.