Our Team

In loving memory

Nancy Suchman, Ph.D.

Originator, Mothering from the Inside Out

For more than 25 years, Dr. Nancy Suchman was the principal investigator for a series of research training and independent research grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Nancy’s most significant academic contribution, and the one most meaningful to her, was the development of Mothering from the Inside Out, an attachment-based parenting intervention. This empirically based individual psychotherapy is designed to help mothers grappling with addiction and other threats to effective caregiving develop the capacity for reflective functioning in their relationships with their children.

Throughout her career, she partnered with a long list of co-investigators, consultants, clinicians, and research assistants to develop and test this clinical intervention. As this novel intervention captured the attention of the research community interested in the impact of addiction on parenting, she began an academic tour to speak, teach, and consult, not just in the U.S., but also in Finland, South Africa, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

In addition to her many peer-reviewed publications, Nancy was the principal editor of Parenting and Substance Abuse. This volume, published by Oxford University Press, quickly became the definitive professional reference on addiction, parenting, and parent intervention.

Over the years, Nancy made significant contributions to the personal and professional development of others. Among them are the mothers and children who have benefitted, directly and indirectly, from her clinical insights, as well as the research assistants, graduate students, professional trainees, addiction counselors, and researchers who benefitted from her generous giving of her time and tutelage.