Who Is Richard Orshoff?

Richard moved from Southern California to Northern Vermont in 1985. In 1986, he opened Accept Counseling on College Street in Burlington, and has been at this location ever since...until, in March of 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Accept Counseling shifted from in-office to Zoom tele-video sessions. This has worked out remarkably well for most clients, providing an easy-to-use, personal and private online presence highly conducive to personal and relationship growth.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, California, Richard is a graduate of The California Family Study Center in Burbank, California (now the Phillips Graduate University). He has studied extensively with John Gray (of Mars and Venus fame), Salvador Minuchin (one of the founding figures of the family therapy field), Sufi-therapist Ali Abu-Bekr, and has taken extensive training with the Harvard University Mind-Body Institute. A clinical member of the AAMFT, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, he is licensed in Vermont as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor and in California as a Marriage and Family Therapist.

Prior to becoming a therapist, Richard had an extensive career in music as a recording engineer and producer. His work earned gold and platinum records with James Taylor, Jackson Browne and Poco. Previous to that, he taught World Religions at San Diego State University, was assistant band director at Montebello High School in Southern California and played in bands for many years.

Richard is responsible for developing the “Seeing, Safety and Leading Behind” method of teaching therapists to do therapy moment-to-moment and “The Love Instinct™”--”The Ten Fatal Flaws of Relationships and Their Glorious Antidotes™” approach to teaching and coaching couples.