Brief Overview

Michael DiPaolo, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and certified Imago Relationship Therapist and Consultant in private practice in West Los Angeles, California.  Dr. DiPaolo provides individual, couples, and family psychotherapy, consultation, and education.

Originally from Saratoga Springs, New York, Dr. DiPaolo received his Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.) in psychology, with a double major in business from the University of Notre Dame.  He received a Masters Degree (M.A.) in human development from Columbia University/Teachers College.  He received his Doctoral Degree in clinical psychology (Ph.D.) from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. 

Since obtaining his doctorate, Dr. DiPaolo completed a one-year postgraduate training program in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at the Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis.  He completed training to become a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist, and subsequently an Imago Consultant.  He received Level 1 training to become an Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapist.

Professional Background

Prior to obtaining his doctorate, Dr. DiPaolo worked for several years with Covenant House, an international agency that works with homeless and runaway youth.  This started with one year as a full-time volunteer living in community with Covenant House Texas, in Houston.  Dr. DiPaolo was later involved in the start-up of Covenant House California, in Hollywood, where he worked for five years in multiple supervisory positions. Dr. DiPaolo completed the research for his doctoral dissertation at Covenant House California.  This work was subsequently accepted for publication in its entirety by Garland Publications in 1999.  The book, The Impact of Multiple Childhood Trauma on Homeless and Runaway Adolescents, is registered in the Library of Congress (LC 98033192).  The second edition of the book was published in 2016 by Routledge.  Dr. DiPaolo also has a published article entitled “Ready, Set, Engage!:  Gaining Skills for Counseling Street Youth” in the book Street Children:  A Guide to Effective Ministry, published by MARC.

Dr. DiPaolo completed his American Psychological Association (APA) approved a full-time internship at Pacific Clinics.  It was here that Dr. DiPaolo received advanced training in working with individuals and families with major mental illness under the mentorship of Dr. Chris Amenson, former National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) psychologist of the year.   Dr. DiPaolo’s work in this area includes has included consulting with the UCLA PsychRehab program under the direction of world-renowned expert Dr. Robert Liberman.

During his training and into his practice, Dr. DiPaolo has remained active working with several community-based organizations.  He worked as a therapist and supervisor for Pacific Clinics, an adult outpatient community mental health center.  He was also staff psychologist for Jump Street, a crisis residential program operated by Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health.  Among his volunteer efforts, Dr. DiPaolo was on the board of directors for Step-Up on Second, a full-service psychosocial rehabilitation program for adults with mental illness. Here he maintains a role on the Advisory Board of Daniel’s Place, Step-Up’s outreach to young adults and their families.  He is also past-president of the Parish Council at St. Monica Church.

Providing education and training – to both professionals and the general public – is an active part of Dr. DiPaolo’s practice.  The annual public education series, “How to Survive and Thrive with a Mentally Ill Relative” has been provided for over 35 years, the past 21 with Dr. DiPaolo as its presenter.  This series has been filmed twice, with its more recent filming available on YouTube where it has received over 100,000 views.  Dr. DiPaolo has traversed California in providing professional training to organizations such as NAMI, California Family Court Services, the Occupational Therapy Association of California, USC School of Social Work, and the LA County Department of Mental Health.

Dr. DiPaolo has consulted with: the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Pacific Clinics Institute, St. Monica Catholic Church, The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Step-Up on Second, and UCLA.

Advanced Training

Dr. DiPaolo works extensively in the area of relationships. He has received advanced training in 2008 to become a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist. Imago is based on the bestselling work, “Getting the Love You Want” by Harville Hendrix (learn more about Imago at www.imagorelationshipswork.com).  

In this area, Dr. DiPaolo provides couples therapy, premarital counseling, and educational workshops for couples. Dr. DiPaolo works in the marriage preparation program at St. Monica and other churches where he has counseled over 1,500 engaged couples.  For this work, he is a trained facilitator of the FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication Understanding and Study) inventory and has developed the workshop, The Foundation: Wisdom & Tools to Build a Conscious Marriage. Dr. DiPaolo leads The Foundation Workshop five times a year.

Dr. DiPaolo received advanced training to become a certified Imago Consultant. Beginning in 2019, he co-facilitated a monthly consultation group for Imago therapists.  In 2022, Dr. DiPaolo took over the mantle as the sole facilitator of this group, Imago Consultation 3.0.

In 2020-21, Dr. DiPaolo received advanced training in Internal Family Systems (IFS), a powerfully transformative, evidence-based model of psychotherapy created by Dr. Richard Schwartz.  Dr. DiPaolo is a Level 1 IFS Therapist, integrating this modality into his therapy and workshops. Learn more at www.ifs-institute.com.

Integration of Spirituality & Psychology

Dr. DiPaolo has maintained a passion for the integration of psychology and spirituality, bringing this to his work in psychotherapy and retreats.  Dr. DiPaolo has been active at St. Monica Catholic Church, in Santa Monica, California for over ten years.  Among his work includes the facilitation of retreats, twice leading the fall weekend retreat for the Young Ministering Adults. He has provided other day retreats including Finding Light Amidst the Darkness, a retreat focused on finding healing for depression.  Dr. DiPaolo also completed the 19th annotation of the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius in a 9-month program at St. Monica entitled FIRE. The program invited discernment both personally and for the community.

Dr. DiPaolo has spoken at broader events for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He has twice presented at the Religious Education Congress, the nation’s largest Catholic gathering of Catholics, with roughly 40,000 attendees.  He has also presented for several years at Theology on Tap, an annual series focusing on helping young adults integrate faith into their daily lives.

And most importantly, Dr. DiPaolo has been married for 23 years and has three wonderful children, along with a hyperactive dog.