• About the Center

    The Center is a place of healing and growth, the dream of Grace and Armin Klein. They worked together to create the Center until Armin's death in 2011. Grace continues the work as psychotherapist, having added the experience of facilitating the end-of-life process for Armin and in being his care-giver. Their relationship is a source of inspiration for others.

     "We found our dreams in each other."

     Grace's professional background includes an academic career in nursing as practitioner, professor and university administrator. She and Armin, and colleague, Virginia Whitmire, developed and taught an empowerment workshop for nurses for twelve years. Grace and Armin discovered the work of Carl Rogers in their education in human development and psychology and met in the First International Forum on the Person-centered Approach in 1982 in Qaxtepec, Mexico. They remained active in the international, national and local person-centered communities. Armin remained a person-centered therapist for over sixty years until his death. He and Grace were co-therapists in an ongoing therapy group.

     Both Armin and Grace have written about their life experiences in their poetry, available online here. In addition, Grace, in her art and photography, expresses her notion that beauty is human encouragement for all of us in our lives and that art in all its forms can be a medium for emotional self-expression and healing.

     The Person-Centered Approach is the work of Carl R. Rogers, noted psychologist and philosopher of the twentieth century. Carl Rogers developed his theory of psychotherapy when he saw that imposing the mind, or thinking, of the therapist actually slowed the psychotherapeutic process. He proposed that facilitating the inner growth drive of persons, without directing them, was by far more powerful, went deeper into their inner life, and was met with longer lasting changes, as persons discovered how to facilitate themselves in their own unique processes of growth. This higher priority of inner process over content is empowerment and human encouragement.

  • Grace Harlow Klein Ph.D., RN, FANN

    Grace Harlow Klein Ph.D., RN (University of Kansas, University of Maryland)

    Grace graduated from the University of Kansas in nursing, the University of Maryland with a specialty in community health nursing. She received her Ph.D. in human development from the University of Maryland with Richard Matteson as her adviser.

    My education in nursing and in human development, my work and life experiences and my successful and happy marriage provide a foundation for the things I find most satisfying in my practice – that I have something valuable to offer individuals:
    • seeking their own life pathway
    • experiencing the loss of important people and work life
    • grieving
    • being in end of life process and issues, including being a care-giver
    • navigating institutional environments to create successful and satisfying work lives.
    And for individuals and couples seeking to make satisfying relationships.

    My artistic endeavors as a writer, painter & photographer give me an appreciation for musicians, artists and people using their own creativity in their lives.

    I find it very challenging and satisfying to work with individuals who have suffered great loss and trauma in their lives, especially as children.

    Listening deeply and empathically and being a respectful companion to people in their growth and healing is a privilege for me.

    Helping people process their life experiences gives them tools and power to navigate what life brings.

    I especially enjoy when the members of a group share, find connections and offer support to each other.

  • Armin Klein Ph.D.

    Armin Klein was a psychotherapist for over sixty years to the ending of his
    life in 2011. His practice was directed toward individuals, couples,
    families and groups. He was a group therapist working with both long-term
    growth groups and in encounter and marathon groups.

    Armin graduated from Princeton University and received his Ph.D. in
    psychology from Teachers' College, Columbia University. His internship with
    Carl R. Rogers at the University of Chicago Counseling Center sixty years
    ago began a lifelong loving friendship with Rogers. An encounter with
    Rogers at the end of an undergraduate course he took with Rogers had a
    profound impact on his life. He worked extensively in residential treatment
    with children and families and was in private practice with individuals,
    families and groups since 1951.

    Armin wrote poetry about his own life struggles, published as Songs of
    Living (see Our Store for information on purchase). He was working at the
    time of his death on a new volume, Songs of Loving.

    Armin was a member of the Association for the Development of the
    Person-Centered Approach and held Lifetime membership in the American
    Academy of Psychotherapy and the American Psychological Association.

    He was known for his warmth, gentleness and deep openness, about which he
    wrote in his poetry.


    Longwood Gardens © 2004 Grace Harlow
    Garce Harlow's photography my be seen in Grace Harlow Fine Art and is available for purchase in the Store.

  • Armin Klein Ph.D.
    Grace Harlow Klein Ph.D.


    Grace and Armin met at the First International Forum on the Person-Centered Approach in Mexico. They were married in 1983 and between them have six children and ten grandchildren.