About
The Institute of Marital Healing was founded by a group of professionals whose clinical expertise is matched by their compassion and their desire to promote healthy marriages.
Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons
Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons is a psychiatrist and the director of the Institute for Marital Healing. He has worked with hundreds of couples over the past 40 years and authored Habits for a Healthy Marriage: A Handbook for Catholic Couples, 2019, Ignatius Press. In Forgiveness Therapy: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope, 2014, APA books, he describes psychological conflict reduction in marriages, in youth and in numerous psychiatric disorders. In July 2019 Dr. Fitzgibbons and Dr. Enright received the prestigious Benedictine XVI Foundation/University of Francisco de Vitoria Expanded Reason Award for research for their Forgiveness Therapy work.
He trained in psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center. His experience in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at HUP was with Aaron Tim Beck, M.D., who endorsed his first American Psychological Association book with Dr. Robert Enright, Helping Clients Forgive: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope, 2000.
Dr. Fitzgibbons is a member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and Family and has been an adjunct professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for the Studies of Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and a consultor to the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy.
Dr. Peter Kleponis
Dr. Peter Kleponis is a Licensed Clinical Therapist and Assistant Director at Comprehensive Counseling Services in Conshohocken. Dr. Kleponis has over 18 years of professional experience working with individuals, couples, families, priests, religious, seminarians and organizations. He specializes in marriage & family therapy, pastoral counseling, resolving anger, men’s issues, and pornography addiction recovery.
Dr. Kleponis is founder of the successful Integrity Restored Recovery Program for pornography addiction. He has authored a number of books on pornography treatment including, The Pornography Epidemic: A Catholic Approach (2012, Simon Peter Press), Integrity Restored: Helping Catholics Win the Battle Against Pornography (2014, Emmaus Road Publishing) and Restoring Trust: A Couple’s Guide to Getting Past Porn (2018) Our Sunday Visitor.
His M.A. in Clinical-Counseling Psychology is from LaSalle University in Philadelphia, PA and his Ph.D. in General Psychology from Capella University in Minneapolis, MN. His doctoral thesis evaluated the relationship between narcissism and spiritual well-being in 200 Roman Catholic seminarians.
Neal Niznan
Neal is a master's level licensed social worker. He also holds a master's degree in Pastoral Ministry from Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University. Over the past fourteen years Neal has provided therapy for individuals, couples, and families. He recently expanded the scope of his clinical practice to individuals and families coping with life threatening illness and issues of bereavement through his affiliation with the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania.