Moshe Lang
Australian family therapist, clinical psychologist and author
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Education and career
Lang studied psychology at the University of Melbourne. From 1965 to 1979, he was senior psychologist at the Bouverie Clinic, as well as director of training. During a sabbatical, in 1975, Lang worked in Ramat-Chen Mental Health Clinic in Israel. In 1979, Lang founded Williams Road Family Therapy Centre – the first independent centre of its kind in Australia. He was co-director of the Centre, with Dr Brian Stagoll, from 1981 to 1997. Lang remained involved with the Centre until 2012, when he became director of Williams Road Psychotherapy Centre.
Lang was Foundation President of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy (ANZJFT) from 1979 to 1988 and President of the Victorian Association of Family Therapists (VAFT), now known as the Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT), from 1982 to 1984.
In 1994, Moshe was Recipient of the Inaugural Award of Special Services to Family Therapy from ANZJFT and, in 1992, he was awarded Life Membership from AAFT. In 1980, Moshe gave the keynote address at the Inaugural Family Therapy Conference in Melbourne 1980.
In addition to his clinical practice, Moshe is a prolific author and educator. His work includes a number of books, an educational DVD set, as well as radio and podcast interviews.
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Key interest areas
Moshe has published extensively on themes ranging from therapy with children and adolescents, couples therapy, depression, eating disorders, Holocaust Survivors and their families, trans-generational trauma, school refusal, suicide and teaching family therapy.
Teaching family therapy
Lang spent his early career at the Bouverie Clinic under Dr Geoff Goding – broadly regarded as the person most instrumental in introducing family therapy to Australia. In 1979, when he founded Williams Road Family Therapy Centre, Lang envisioned "an independent family therapy institute away from the constraints of bureaucracies", according to Stagoll. The founding of the Centre was a positive development that made its own contribution to the flourishing of family therapy in Australia. It created a collegial atmosphere for learning through its summer schools, in addition to having an open system of working and an "open door policy" for its students.
In addition to his work at Williams Road Family Therapy Centre, Lang has delivered numerous other presentation lectures and workshops on clinical psychotherapy and family therapy. According to Stagoll, Lang is a "master therapist, with an extraordinary ability to listen and find solutions without ever getting boxed into whatever the reigning ideology is. He taught me to always attend to the experience and requests of the patient and family. Our loyalty is not to the system, but to our clients." Lang is well known for his unique teaching style which is marked by clarity, humour and empathy. Carolyn Quadrio states that "Moshe’s charm [comes] from his gentle worldliness".
Commentary on family therapy
As an expert commentator, Lang has spoken on family therapy and clinical psychology both in his professional sphere and to the wider public audience. He has been regularly interviewed in print, and on radio and podcast. In 2016, after being interviewed on We All Wear It Differently, a podcast for psychologist professionals, Lang was invited to be a regular commentator on the segment Mondays with Moshe.
Lang speaks on a broad spectrum of topics – from ones of levity, such as 'Humour in Life and Therapy', to more solemn ones, such as his work with Holocaust survivors. According to Stagoll, it is Lang's "courage to enter terrible and violent realms of abuse, torture and terror", such as with Holocaust survivors, that demonstrate "the very best work in Family Therapy". He goes on to say that "together with [his] clients, [Lang has] been able to maintain a moral clarity and find a capacity to imagine words and stories that can help people move beyond deadly shames and amnesias. [Lang dares] to speak the unspeakable, and name that which has never been named. By doing this [he helps] reconnect people to both their old communities, and new ones, including communities dedicated explicitly to Human Rights. This work does not deny reality, but openly and honestly confronts it, to find ways to a better place, of justice and remembering."