Dr. Swenson graduated from Harvard College and Yale Medical School. He joined the faculty of Cornell University Medical College in 1982, where for five years he directed a long-term psychoanalytically-oriented inpatient program for patients with personality disorders. Beginning in 1987, Dr. Swenson developed and directed inpatient, outpatient, and day treatment programs for borderline patients based on DBT. Twice he was voted Teacher of the Year by the psychiatric residents (1990, 1993). While at Cornell, he served as a DBT trainer and consultant throughout the United States and Europe, coordinating statewide implementation of DBT in the public sectors of Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Dr. Swenson has published widely on the treatment of borderline patients, including one article comparing Kernberg’s psychoanalytic approach to DBT (1989), one article describing the inpatient application of DBT (2001), one article identifying the factors leading to DBT’s popularity (2001), and one article identifying the barriers and strategies for implementing DBT in community mental health centers (2002). During 1996 he served as the Coordinator of Clinical Training in DBT. From 1997 to the present he was Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry for the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and from 1997 to 2001 he served as Area Medical Director for the Western Massachusetts Area of the Department of Mental Health.

Charlie is a Certified DBT Clinician by the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification.

Contact Charlie