Dr. Mike Riera Biography
Mike Riera, Ph.D.,
is one of the country's foremost authorities on understanding children
and teenagers. The cornerstone of his philosophy for parents with teenagers
is having parents shift from being managers in their teenagers' lives to
becoming their consultants.
His latest book, Staying Connected To Your Teenager, (Perseus, 2003), has already appeared on several bestseller lists and was written as the follow-up to his first book, Uncommon Sense For Parents With Teenagers. The book has also been featured on Oprah.
He is the author of four books on the subject, beginning with his groundbreaking release, Uncommon Sense for Parents With Teenagers (Ten Speed Press, 1995), which established Mike's reputation for providing no-nonsense, practical advice for parents in understanding their teens. The second edition of this book, with several new chapters, will be released in October of 2004.
This early success was followed with two more acclaimed books: Surviving High School (Ten Speed Press, 1997) addressed teenagers directly; A Field Guide to the American Teenager (Perseus, 2000), written together with Joe DiPrisco, Ph.D., was selected as one of the top parenting books of 2000 by both Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Mike's most recent collaboration with Joe DiPrisco is Right From Wrong: Instilling a Sense of Integrity in Your Child (Perseus Books, 2002).
Mike Riera appears regularly on television shows about parenting: He was the host of the award winning show, Life in Progress, on Oxygen cable network and was the the parenting correspondent for the CBS Saturday Early Show for seven years.
Mike speaks nationally to various groups of parents and teenagers.
Mike is a highly sought-after speaker...
Mike's ability to communicate in an engaging and informative way has made him a highly sought-after speaker for parenting groups, students, corporations, as well as colleagues in the health care profession. He has been a guest speaker at Stanford University Medical Center, The University of California at Berkeley, America Online, Interschool Consortium of Independent Schools of Manhattan, N.Y., numerous events for the Young Presidents Organization, as well as more than 150 other medical and educational institutions.
Mike Riera has lived in the Bay Area with his wife and two children since 1986. He received his BA in economics from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, his Masters in Counseling Psychology from Antioch University, his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from San Francisco's California Institute of Integral Studies, and he was a CORO Fellow in St. Louis, Missouri. For 19 years he worked as a school counselor, teacher, and dean of students.