School History

The Adler Graduate School has a distinguished history in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. Through the encouragement and support of internationally known psychiatrist Dr. Rudolf Dreikurs, the institution was initially founded in 1967 as the Minnesota Adlerian Society. It began in the Twin Cities as a small movement to present Adlerian concepts to the regional community. Among its initial founders were Bob Bartholow, Susan Pye Brokaw, Bill and Mim Pew, and Bob Willhite. They worked directly under Dreikurs’ tutelage.

By 1969, the new Society experienced broad public exposure, broad participation, and enthusiastic volunteerism. Programs were offered to individuals, couples, and families at numerous locations around Minneapolis and St. Paul. Concurrently, an Adlerian teaching institute was created as part of the Society. This was started by a group of professionals dedicated to teaching the practice of Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology.

In May 1969, the Institute was separately chartered as the Alfred Adler Institute of Minnesota (AAIM). In 1982, AAIM began a cooperative program with its sister institution, The Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago. AAIM was first independently accredited in 1991 as a full fledged graduate school offering various paths of study toward the Master of Arts degree in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy.

In July 1998, the Institute formally changed its name to the Alfred Adler Graduate School (AAGS) and to the Adler Graduate School in 2004. Today, in addition to the Master of Arts in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy, the Adler Graduate School offers various certificate and other specialty study programs. It is a well-respected graduate institution educating and training mental health practitioners. At its core remains the Adlerian philosophy of encouragement, open-mindedness, and mutual support to advance the public interest.