Jerry Brandell, MSSW ’77, (also PhD, University of Chicago), recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work. The award recognizes his “contributions to clinical social work and psychoanalysis” and was presented at its 2025 Biennial Conference held in Austin, Texas.
Jerry has been a social work educator and clinical mental health practitioner for many years. He was a distinguished faculty member and administrator at Wayne State University from 1992-2020, and has authored or edited 16 books including, Essentials of Clinical Social Work; Of Mice and Metaphors: Therapeutic Storytelling with Children; and Psychodynamic Social Work. Jerry is the founding editor-in-chief of Psychoanalytic Social Work (now in its 33rd year of publication).
In 2023, Jerry received a Fulbright Foundation Specialist Award, which supported a month-long series of lectures and workshops given throughout Taiwan.
Throughout his career, Jerry has lectured widely on clinical topics in the United States as well as in England, Scotland, Greece, Crete, Spain, Sweden, China, France, Israel, Switzerland, Taiwan, and New Zealand.
After retiring from Wayne State, Jerry expanded his private practice. As a practicing child, adolescent, and adult psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst, he is actively involved in clinical supervision and consultation. Discussing his psychodynamically-oriented private practice, Jerry explains that in addition to long-term analysis and dynamic psychotherapy, he has also utilized a time-limited brief psychotherapy approach when appropriate to the needs of his clients.
Reflecting on his MSSW program at UW-Madison, Jerry fondly remembers former faculty members Dean Schneck, Mona Wasow, and John Flanigan.
Jerry balances his academic and clinical work with a lifelong passion for musical performance. A former student of Oliver Nelson and Joe Daley, he periodically plays alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones with two big jazz bands in the Ann Arbor, MI area, and has also led his own small jazz group.
For more information about Jerry’s many contributions to clinical social work and social work education, visit his full profile.