The Center for Personal Growth and Development

The Center has been in the business of helping people and organizations develop their true potential since 1981. Our roots lie in psychoanalytic psychology, the most comprehensive system ever developed to understand human behavior, and in humanistic psychology, which explores the field of human potential and motivation. We also employ the concept of emotional intelligence in our assessment and training.

The Center has served the Lehigh and Delaware Valley communities in Eastern Pennsylvania through the psychological services it offers. It has provided employee assistance programs, mental health services, and business consultation to local and national companies.

Since 1981 our mission has been to facilitate change that is beneficial to both individual employees and to the organization they are a part of. We believe that when the focus is to raise human potential in work and in life, the byproduct is organizational effectiveness.

Human potential is reached through improved awareness of self and others, through authenticity and empathy. Awareness and understanding of the psycho-dynamics and motives in ourselves and in others, leads to more rational and effective decisions. These decisions in turn enhance the chances for personal, family, organizational, and community success. Mistakes will occur but the more we know about ourselves, the quicker and stronger our recovery.

Emotional Intelligence is a key concept in the Center’s philosophy of health in life and work. The three main components of emotional intelligence are:

• The ability to identify, differentiate, and manage our own emotions.
• The ability to recognize emotions in others, to empathize.
• The ability to marshall emotions towards a constructive goal.

Emotional intelligence raised in any single individual contributes to the overall organizational emotional intelligence the individual belongs to, whether it be a company, a family, or a relationship.



Dr. Mario Alonso

Dr. Alonso is a certified psychoanalyst, licensed clinical and consulting psychologist with over 25 years experience in the field of human relations and change management. In 1981 he established the Center for Personal Growth and Development to offer psychological services to the Delaware and Lehigh Valley communities.

As an educator, he has provided internships for Temple, Hahneman, Widener, and Chestnut Hill College graduate students. His continuing education program, approved by the American Psychological Association, offered required continuing education credits to licensed psychologists. Under this program, he pioneered a national program of psychopharmacological training for psychologists. He has been on faculty at Chestnut Hill College and the Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis where he was Director of Academic Standards. He continues to train through his seminars on change management, communication and dialogue, leadership development, and various psychological topics.

He has consulted with HR and senior management in areas of employee training and relations, performance and management issues, succession planning, team building, organizational change, leadership development, and culture assessment.

In addition to a number of family businesses, Dr. Alonso has worked with
Bell + Howell, Lehigh Portland Cement, Spirax-Sarco, Ingersoll Rand, Mellon Bank, First Union, Nazareth National Bank, Northampton Community College, and Rodale Press, among others. He specially enjoys facilitating teambuilding and serving as a key strategic partner to senior management.

Dr. Alonso’s Hispanic origins and bilingual ability provide an essential perspective and understanding when dealing with the Hispanic culture and issues of diversity. He has used these assets in dealing with clinical patients, transplanted Hispanic executives, and even under-performing professional athletes.

He earned his BA in psychology from Boston College, and his MA and PhD from Adelphi University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Psychological Association, the Society for Organizational Learning, and many other local and national professional organizations.