Reverend Dr. Gary Lee Hellman
Assisting Priest
The Reverend Dr. Gary Lee Hellman is a Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. He has been serving as Assisting Priest at St. John's in the Village since 1976. He has been practicing psychotherapy in New York City since 1978 when he established the St. John's Pastoral Counseling Center.
Father Hellman graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1967. He served in the American Peace Corps in Bihar, India providing educational services in family planning from 1967-1968. He graduated from General Theological Seminary in New York City and was ordained priest in 1973. While still in seminary, he established the Holy Apostles Center, a residential treatment center for ex-offenders. He received his certificate in pastoral psychotherapy, group therapy, marriage and family therapy at the Blanton-Peale Institute in 1978 and was certified Fellow by the AAPC in 1979.
He has provided leadership in various counseling services in New York and New Jersey during the past 25 years. He was administrative director of the Counseling Center for Human Development in Queens, New York. He was director of the Pastoral Studies Program and the Blanton Peale Institute and served on the board from 1981 to 1986. He was founding Director of the Grace Counseling Center in Madison, New Jersey from 1984 to 1992. He became Director of the Counseling & Human Development Center in Manhattan in 1992 and served as Vice President for the Foundation for Religion and Mental Health from 1992 to 2002. He also served as president of the Psychotherapy & Spirituality Institute for many years.
He has pursued his interests in interfaith dimensions of spirituality since his service in India. He has served most recently on the Board and council of the Temple of Understanding. Since 1987, he has pursued his interest in sailing and in 1999-2000 sailed in the island kingdom of tonga to be among the first to greet the new millennium.