Posttraumatic Growth can be facilitated through supportive relationships that may be professional or informal, planned or by happenstance. Expert Companionship is the type of relating that facilitates this growth. In this discussion, elements of this manner of relating will be described, along with the phases of the process of Posttraumatic Growth that the Expert Companion may influence.

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Richard Tedeschi, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus in the Department of  Psychological Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Distinguished Chair of the Boulder Crest Institute for Posttraumatic Growth, in Bluemont, Virginia, where he has been one of the developers of  programs based on posttraumatic growth principles to help combat veterans and first responders. 

He has published nine books and numerous professional articles on trauma, bereavement, and on posttraumatic growth, a term he coined and introduced to the psychological literature while at UNC Charlotte. He was a member of the Graduate Faculty there, and taught several undergraduate and graduate courses. These included Professional Ethics, Introduction to Psychological Treatment, Psychology of Personality, and Positive Psychology. He was chair of many Masters theses and Doctoral dissertation committees. He served as the Coordinator of the Masters program in Clinical/Community Psychology for many years.

Dr. Tedeschi serves as a consultant to the American Psychological Association on trauma and resilience, and is a Fellow of the Division of Trauma Psychology and the Division of Psychotherapy. He is also a member of the Division of Military Psychology and the Division of Independent Practice. He is a Past President of the North Carolina Psychological Association.