Autobiography
MUDr.
Dana Janotova PhD.
was born in Prague in 1949, a second generation holocaust survivor. Being in such a generation predestinates one to work in helping professions. She graduated from Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague 1973; she spent first years of practice in a big mental hospital in a small village near Teresienstadt. After graduation from general psychiatry she worked on the children’s psychiatric department in Prague and received a specialization in child psychiatry.
In 1974 she started work as a counselor for a social care institution for retired people with psychiatric diagnosis in Teresienstadt. In 1980 she started to work as a counselor for institutions for mentally retarded children in Prague. She was also trained in psychotherapy, and in 1986 she received title Candidate of Science on the basis of research “Mentally Retarded Children and Their Families.”
She is now providing counseling services for state institutions and some private institutions, sheltered homes, centers and schools with clients with LD, autism and other types of disorders. Because of her specialization in both adult psychiatry and child psychiatry, her clients range in age from 3 to 100 years of age.
For the last 25 years, she has also been teaching at the Psychiatric Clinic in Prague, teaching child psychiatry and psychosocial development. Her practice and research is oriented towards social psychiatry and psychotherapy.
