About Ronald J. Hook, LMSW
I work to help people become masters of their strongest emotions, to express them appropriately, and to sustain sensible relationships…
My Approach
… to bring about better skill sets toward working with the body in psychotherapy… Neuroscientists Bessell Van der Kolk, M.D., Alan Schore, M.D., and Daniel Siegel, M.D. have made it clear that a psychotherapy is incomplete without direct body intervention. While most psychotherapists work behind closed doors, we believe they want the best for their clients. Thus, now is the time to seek out services like ours. (See testimonials.)
… to continue our clinical work in individual and group psychotherapy with plenty of attention to the physical components… We hope the pendulum swings away from the medical/economic process of feeding chemicals to the masses back toward deeper personal treatment of the individual. The deeper grasp of the physical components should help move the pendulum..
… to offer personal growth services to those who do not qualify for clinical work. This will be in the Radix® model, and the goal will be “to feel and to be more alive”. This can be very helpful to relationships, to quality of contact and communication and to freedom from unnecessary emotional burdens.
My work and affiliation at iipg
In 1977 we formed a training institute and think tank that evolved into the Institute for Individual and Group Psychotherapy. In 1985 we were introduced
Dr. Charles R. Kelley, Founder of the Radix Institute.
He had been a student of Wilhelm Reich, among others, and we saw how effectively his work with the body combined with psychotherapy could be. We arranged for him come to Detroit six times per year so our staff, postgraduate students, and clients could have regular sessions with him. The work was enormously helpful to us and to our patients.
In 1985, I was selected from our staff to train with him in his institute… The deeper expertise was applied to each of our local practices at first. Then other practices hired our trained bodyworkers to help the patients in their practices. This proved successful and did not produce “splitting”, it simply deepened and accelerated the client’s involvement in their own therapy. [Detailed references on another page.]
What I Do
Using physical techniques to provide a sensory education…
Professional Background
1980 Certificatiion in individual and group psychotherapy – post-graduate at the Institute for Individual and Group Psychotherapy. (iigp.org)
1985 Certification in neo-Reichian bodywork by the Radix® Institute (radix.org)
1985 Faculty appointment to the Institute for Individual and Group Psychotherapy (iigp.org)
Current Member: United States Association of Bodypsychotherapists (usabp.org)
Past President, Michigan Group Psychotherapy Society
Past member – American Group Psychotherapy Ass’n (Standards and Ethics Committee)
Kelley-Radix® Teacher/Trainer: qualified to teach bodywork and to train other professionals
Articles: “Self and Other: Samples of Physical Character Armoring Viewed from the Radix® Model” and “An Interview with Stanley Keleman.” Voices (Journal of the American Academy of Psychotherapists). Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 29-33 and 42-50. Spring, 2017.
Professional Testimonials
Ron Hook has been providing Radix bodywork for the past five years.
Currently he works with them every other month and sees a total of about fifteen patients each time. Most of these patients are seen by me weekly for individual therapy and weekly or twice weekly for group therapy. While Ron has been working with my patients their enthusiasm has grown for more bodywork resulting in six visits per year rather than four per year at the beginning of his work with my practice. Since there are only fifteen openings available, we usually have a waiting list. Also, therapists that l supervise have requested any available openings in his schedule.
– Kirk L. Brink, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist
Thoughtful and purposeful in his personal and professional life
Patients are often responsive to his intuitive sensitivity, and persistence towards comprehending their experience. He notes the nuanced aspects of movement, voice, posture to discern aspects of experience and can steadily approach the patient with such insights in a way that is unique amongst therapists with whom I have worked. They are willing to interact with Ron through body-work whether in the immediacy of a group situation, or a longer term several hour bodywork session.
– Patrice Duquette, M.D.P.C.
Bodywork as Adjunct to Traditional Psychotherapy
Knowing this first hand from my personal experience has led me to refer a number of my regular patients to a colleague of mine, Ron Hook, LCSW, formally trained in therapy related bodywork, as an adjunct to their ongoing treatment with me. The results have been positively demonstrated by significant steps forward in their work with me in ways that words alone did not achieve.
– Paul P. Shultz, LCSW
He has served as an invaluable adjunct to my clinical psychotherapy practice
Ron has additionally worked for many years along side my practice of combined individual and group psychotherapy providing my patients opportunity for direct bodywork that focuses on body armoring. Reliably he has applied exquisite sensitivity and abundant creativity in helping patients take further steps out of life-long patterns.
– Leora Bar-Levav, M.D.
Ron Hook as a competent and conscientious clinician...
“I have had the privilege of working more closely with Mr. Hook in the care and treatment of my own patients. His expertise in Radix neo-Reichian bodywork has alibi-ed myself and my patients a powerful way to access emotions that are typically very diflicult to treat in more, traditional therapy alone. His intensive sessions with my patients four to six times a year have helped deepen their work with me by integrating emotional experience held unconsciously within their body into their overall therapy. My patients feel safe with Mr. Hook and look forward to their upcoming sessions with him. Encouraged by Mr. Hook, or spontaneously on their own, patients bring their body work session experiences into their therapy. I have found Mr. Hook to be very respectful ofmy relationships with my patients and his work with them to be a powerful adjunct to my practice.”
– S h e i l a M c C o r m a c k, P h.D. Licensed Psychologist
Working with the body in psychotherapy is a necessary part of treatment
The design and purpose of his work is to help patients deepen their participation in their regular psychotherapy. I recommend that you contact him to get a clear idea as to how his services can meaningfully help you and your practice.
– Natan HarPaz, Ph.D., A.C.S.W
Ron Hook’s participation was a clear benefit to our patients and our practice
Ron Hook is a talented and intuitive psychotherapist and body worker. Trained in Radix neo- Reichian theories and techniques by the late Charles Kelley, PhD, who was himself a student of Reich, Ron is a skilled master in the art and science of body centered psychotherapy.
– llana Bar-Levav, M.D.
Freeing blocks to feeling is recognized by Psychotherapists as integral to therapy.
Ron is a highly sensitive and intuitive therapist, well trained in the Reichian model which is designed to free blocks in the body to feelings and the flow of energy. Ron has been doing this work for 25 years or more.
Contact Ronald J. Hook, LMSW
info@Ronaldjhooklmsw-EmotionalWellness.com
Our Hours
By Appointment Only:
Mon – Fri — 8:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday — 9:00am – 3:30pm
Sunday — Closed
29600 Northwestern Highway • Suite 100A
Southfield, Michigan 48034