.jpg "Michael A. Looney, PhD photo")
Founder/Head Facilitator
Courage Groups
Michael Looney, Ph.D. is the founder and head facilitator of Courage Groups, an organization to address the needs of Caregivers as well as providing very concrete, working therapy for grief. Michael Looney is a prostate cancer survivor, battling the disease for nine years and controls it with immunotherapy. Devastatingly, Michael’s wife was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer in 2018 and passed away three years after her diagnosis in 2021. His caretaking and grief journey ultimately led to his purpose and passion of providing helping services to others.
Looney’s focused training is as a psychotherapist, having studied and mentored under a psychiatrist on the mental health team at Cal Poly State University from 1973-1978, providing individual and group psychotherapy wherein a focus area was mind and image control for Stage IV cancer patients. Looney then moved from psychotherapy to Organizational Development – applying his skills to the needs of leaders, executive teams and organizations – and was hired permanently in a functional role at Apple Computer in 1984. Looney remained in the private sector until he retired from Adobe Systems in 2006.
Michael continued working with Silicon Valley leaders on personal, team and corporate values, culture and purpose for the next ten years, including the mentorship of social entrepreneurs from developing countries through Santa Clara University. Michael Looney holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Psychology/Marriage, Family & Child Counseling, and is excited to be joining the attendees of the APSHO annual meeting.
