David Allen, MD, MPH
Psychiatrist | Counselor | Speaker | Therapist — Renascence Institute International | Allen Institute
Dr. David F. Allen studied medicine at St. Andrews University Medical School in Scotland, and Psychiatry and Public Health at Harvard Medical School where he was a Kennedy Fellow. He studied theology under Dr. Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland, and did further work in Religion, Psychiatry and Ethics under Professor Arthur Dyck at the Harvard Divinity School. He was a visiting professor at Yale Divinity School where he was mentored by Fr. Henri Nouwen. In Washington, D.C., he was mentored by Dr. Gerald May of the Shalom Institute. Since then, Dr. Allen has taught Psychiatry and Religion at Harvard, Yale and Georgetown Medical School. In 1987 he was awarded the Bennett Commonwealth Prize for his outstanding work in cocaine addiction. He was featured in the P.B.S. special, The Drug Wars, which documented his discovery of crack cocaine and its epidemic in 1985. Dr. Allen has established cocaine treatment centers in The Bahamas and Washington, D.C., and is a recognized expert in all types of addictions and their causes. Dr. Allen has taught at the Chautauqua Institution with Dr. Ross McKenzie and psychoanalyst Janet Gibbs in the field of Psychiatry and Religion and has been a regular facilitator for Young President Organization Group Forums. Dr. Allen has published widely in the areas of Addiction, Spirituality and Psychiatry.
Dr. Allen's widely acclaimed marriage, grief, and shame seminars have been hosted by churches as diverse as Dallas Bible Church in Texas and St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church, Washington, D.C. Broadcast throughout the Bahamas, his weekly radio program “Coming Home: Facing our Heart” and weekly television program "People Helping People" explore themes relating to anger, community, forgiveness and acceptance. Dr. Allen has a international private practice in Psychiatry and individual therapy in Nassau, Bahamas. As director of the Renascence Institute International and the Allen Institute of Training and Research, Dr. Allen works with a team of psychiatrists, professional counselors and researchers.
