Member since
1970
What she does
Grundfest is a practicing psychologist in Princeton and Somerset, New Jersey, who provides cognitive behavioral therapy and career consulting services.
As luck would have it
She came to psychology by chance. In the early 1960s, Grundfest was married and home with two children, but like many women at the time, she was looking for more. "I had graduated from Barnard College, but I had no idea of career direction." She knew she wanted more intellectual growth and connection with others, so she decided to go back to school to become a teacher.
"And that's when luck stepped in," she remembers: One night a substitute instructor took over her teaching methods class and introduced her to Carl Rogers. "I fell in love with his philosophy of client-centered therapy," she says. So, she applied to and was accepted by the master's in counseling psychology program at Rutgers University. She then was awarded a National Defense Education Act fellowship that enabled her to earn an EdD, with a specialization in career counseling.
Princeton calls
Soon after, in 1971, Princeton University's Office of Career Services called her. Princeton had just opened its doors to women and was looking for a career counselor to help these new students map out their careers. "It was such an exciting time to be a woman, so much was changing," she says. "Again, it was taking advantage of opportunities. I was just at the right place at the right time." She served as assistant director of Princeton's Office of Career Services until 1977. That was when Peterson's Guides invited her to develop a career series for college graduates looking for jobs.
In 1984, she shifted gears again and went into private practice to provide more focused client services, such as helping people determine which jobs best matched their interests and personalities. In 1991, she became a licensed psychologist so she could help clients in other aspects of their lives as well.
A fulfilling career
Now, at 81, Grundfest has no interest in slowing down. "It has been so wonderful to help people understand themselves better," she says. "People come to therapy because they realize that something in their lives is wrong, and they feel helpless to change it. But there is always a story, a reason behind it, even if it's a dysfunctional reason. It's very satisfying to help them see that and to coach them through change. It is endlessly fascinating."
— Sara Martin