Topic: How to deal with stress of our current pandemic situation.

Dr. Christopher Cortman has created a safe haven for emotional healing in Sarasota County, facilitating more than 70,000 hours of psychotherapy in his private practice. He specializes in treating emotional trauma, relationship issues, personality disorders, depression, and anxiety disorders.

Awarded a Doctorate of Psychology in San Diego, CA in 1983, Dr. Cortman has been a Florida licensed psychologist since 1985. He received the first place Reader’s Choice Award by the Venice Gondolier Sun for ‘Best Psychologist’ in the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. He also won the award for ‘Outstanding Contributions to Psychology in the Public’ in 2015 for the state of Florida. Furthermore, he has appeared nationwide on talk radio and television, including Disney Radio, MTV, and ABC.

Dr. Cortman is the on-call psychologist for Venice Regional Bayfront Health and continues to maintain a successful private practice while pursuing projects that enable him to meet a larger need for psychological expertise in the community. These projects include frequent public speaking with the use of ‘edu-tainment’, as he prides himself on providing an ‘educational’ experience riddled with humor that keeps the audience involved and ‘entertained.’ Dr. Cortman has spoken alongside Tipper Gore in 2009, Jane Pauley in 2011 and Patrick Kennedy in 2015 to talk about stigma and mental illness. Another project of his is the development of the Social Black Belt, a social/emotional learning program for schools and individuals of all ages.

Dr. Cortman is a published author of three books: ‘Your Mind: An Owner's Manual for a Better Life: 10 Simple Truths That Will Set You Free,’ ‘Take Control of Your Anxiety,’ and ‘Keep Pain in the Past: Getting Over Trauma, Grief and the Worst Thing That’s Ever Happened to You.’

Overall, Dr. Cortman strives to empower people to attain their most prized goal…happiness.

BPWEV meets every third Tuesday of each month at the Plantation Golf and Country Club. The public is invited to all meetings. Dinner is $23.00 and reservations are necessary. For more information go to: www.bpwev.org

The mission of BPWEV is: To achieve equity for all women through Advocacy, Education and Information. BPW celebrated its 100th birthday in 2019. The organization strongly believes in "Women Helping Women".