Dr. Forrest developed the theory and methods of Design Psychology based on her knowledge of clinical psychology, psycho-biology, evolutionary psychology, and human attachment.  Her sequence of Design Psychology assessment tools, adapted from clinical interview and assessment measures, yield the data and insights to choose the color, lighting, texture and arrangement of space for her clients’ residential, office and landscape projects.  In collaboration with her design partner, Susan Painter, Ph.D., Dr. Forrest developed and teaches the first university-based course in Design Psychology, at the UCLA Architecture/Interior Design program, and is a sought-after guest speaker in the U.S. and abroad.  She has a special interest in design for infants and in the design of healing environments.  

 

A graduate of the Rutgers’ Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Dr. Forrest was awarded special honors for the development of an innovative day hospital program for adolescents.  Her extensive background includes graduate training in child development; post-doctoral study in the fields of psycho-biology and emotional development, hypno-analysis, and psychoanalysis.  She has specialized training in the treatment of trauma; in the Adult Attachment Inventory; and the NIDCAP neonatal intensive care assessment program.  She has served as a clinical supervisor at the American Behavioral Studies Institute, Rutgers University, and the American Cancer Society.  Dr. Forrest received her training in interior design at the UCLA Architecture/Interior Design program, and was trained in garden design at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.  

 

 

In addition to her work at ForrestPainter Design, Susan Painter is Senior Planner, Director of Research and human factors planning specialist in the Urban Design and Planning studio at AC Martin Partners, Los Angeles, specializing in university campus master plans and campus residential communities.  

 

As a faculty member at the UCLA Architecture/Interior Design Program, she taught Fundamentals of Interior Design and Human Factors in Design, and, along with her design partner, Constance Forrest, Psy.D., developed and taught the first university-based course in Design Psychology.  She received the Year 2000 Teacher of the Year award.  Dr. Painter was a tenured associate professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where she taught in the Psychology Department and the Schools of Architecture and Industrial Design.  A specialist in cross-disciplinary education, she served as guest professor and critic for an International Studio at the Bauhaus in Germany.  Dr. Painter was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1991 for her distinguished service to the field of Psychology.  Her previous research areas include family development and family violence, and she served as founding director of the Canadian National Clearinghouse on Family Violence at Health & Welfare Canada.    

 

Dr. Painter received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of British Columbia, where her dissertation research was on the development of parent-child emotional bonds.  She holds a FIDER-accredited certificate in Interior Design from UCLA, where her design thesis, a pediatric clinic, received an award from the Center for Health Care Design.  She completed a post-graduate course in Campus Residential Communities in the Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education program.