Author Biographies
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Debbie Riley, M.S.
Debbie Riley, M.S.,
author of the revealing book, Beneath
the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens, and
Executive Director of The Center for Adoption Support
and Education, Inc. is an award winning expert on adolescent
mental health.
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She has been a therapist for twenty-three years, focusing on adolescent
mental health, and treating teens in outpatient, inpatient, & community
mental health settings.
She is the co-founder of Operation Runaway - a unique public/private
partnership between one of the country’s largest suburban police
departments and a community psychiatric hospital.
Since 1993, she has focused exclusively on the field of adoption, creating
an innovative post-adoption family support center in the Washington D.C.
metropolitan area. Services include comprehensive adoption mental health
counseling, education and support programs for the adoption community.
Ms. Riley is an accomplished presenter both locally and nationally
on adoption issues and writes for various adoption-related publications
including Adoptive Families Magazine, Fostering Families Magazine.
She is the co-developer of several successful treatment models including
the “Adoption-Centered Therapeutic Approach” and the “Kids & Teens
Adoption Network Group.”
She received her master’s degree from the University of Maryland
, Department of Family Studies. Debbie and her husband, parents
of an adopted son, reside in Maryland .
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John
Meeks, M.D.
John E. Meeks, M.D., co-author of the revealing
book Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens, is a
nationally recognized, award winning child and adolescent
psychiatrist, practicing for more than forty-five years.
He is co-founder and has served as the president and medical
director of The Foundation Schools since 1975. The Foundation
Schools operate three K-12 schools for students with emotional
disturbance.
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He received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee
and taught at both the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
School and the Georgetown University Medical School. He has served
as director of several child and adolescent divisions in psychiatric
hospitals.
Dr. Meeks is best known for his classic textbook, The Fragile
Alliance; another book on depression, High Times, Low Times:
The Many Faces of Adolescent Depression; and his most recent
publication, The Learning Alliance. He has authored several articles
on individual and group psychotherapy, behavioral disorders of childhood,
treatment of adolescent suicide, adolescent substance abuse, hospitalization
and inpatient treatment and adolescent depression.
Dr. Meeks received the prestigious national Schonfeld Award
from the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry for
his lifetime contributions to child and adolescent psychiatry.
He has presented nationally and internationally on a wide variety
of subjects.
He is married, has 3 children and resides in Washington,
D.C.
