Initially thinking of becoming a doctor or a lawyer, Patricia Hanes Meyer found her niche in social work after gaining experience working in the juvenile justice system while studying at Caroll College. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1969 and began her career in 1970 as the family therapy director with the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, a role she held until 1977 before transitioning to a consulting role from 1977 to 2009. During this time, Ms. Meyer was also a consultant and principal investigator for the “Education as a Vehicle for Therapeutic Change” research project with Crossroads, the Fairfax County, Virginia, drug abuse program, from 1972 to 1974.
Achieving a Master of Social Work from the Catholic University of America in 1976, Ms. Meyer established her private psychotherapy practice, Patricia Hanes Meyer, LCSW, PLC, that same year. A licensed clinical social worker through the American Board of Clinical Social Work, she has brought her expertise in psychotherapy and the Bowen family systems theory to individual and family counseling sessions, first in Herndon, Virginia, before she moved her practice to North Carolina. The Bowen theory is a framework for understanding one’s family history and emotional patterns, and Ms. Meyer was notably among the early pioneers for applying the Bowen theory to the juvenile justice system.
Alongside her primary responsibilities, Ms. Meyer spent several years, from 1976 to 1984, with Georgetown University as a clinical instructor in the School of Medicine’s department of psychiatry and with The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family. She is also a well-regarded author and has contributed numerous chapters to books and articles to professional journals and publications, such as Annals of American Psychotherapy. Her first work, “The Montgomery Family: A Class Study,” was published in The Family Journal in 1974 and was followed by “The Family and Juvenile Court: A Five Year Report” and “The Education Process: A Vehicle for Bringing Change” at the Georgetown Family Symposia in 1976.
Ms. Meyer published three articles, “The Choice of Aging” in The Family Journal and “Family System Therapy: A Path to Coping” and “Talking With Someone Else” in Marriage and Family Life, in 1978 and one article, “The Legal System and Divorce: Avoiding Chaos, Conflict and Loss of Self-Definition” in the Georgetown Medical Bulletin, in 1979. Furthermore, she served as an advisory editor for “The Family: A Journey of Family Systems, Theory and Practice” from 1977 to 1984 and published “The Importance of the Practice Environment” with KSA Media in 2005. Most recently, Ms. Meyer contributed a chapter to “Differentiation of Self: Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspectives,” which was published by Routledge in 2014.
For her excellence, Ms. Meyer has been the recipient of a number of honors and accolades. A distinguished Marquis listee, she has been recognized with features in Who’s Who of American Women since 1981 and in Who’s Who in the South and Southwest in 1997. She has further been named a Marquis Who’s Who Top Professional and presented with a Marquis Who’s Who Humanitarian Award. Most recently, she was honored with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, the highest honor conferred by Marquis Who’s Who. Previously, Ms. Meyer was also recognized by Strathmore’s Who’s Who Worldwide in 2000.
Having accomplished much over the course of her career, Ms. Meyer considers her greatest professional achievement to be giving back to the world and hopes to leave a legacy as a respectful, trustworthy and honorable individual. In order to keep abreast of new developments in her field, she maintains professional affiliation with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the American Psychotherapy Association, where she was elected as a fellow in 2007. When she isn’t working, Ms. Meyer contributes to her community as a leader at her local church, a youth travel soccer coach and as a Girl Scout leader.
