Staff and Consultants

Scott C. Stacy, PsyD

Dr. Stacy is the co-founder of Acumen Assessments and Acumen Institute. He is an internationally recognized provider of psychological assessment, treatment, and consultation services to licensed professionals and individuals in positions of power. He is a clinical and forensic psychologist. The focus of his work centers on helping his clients understand and resolve the complex emotional and ethical issues associated with leadership, boundary problems, sexual misconduct, distress and resulting disruptive behavior, professional burnout, and substance abuse/dependence. In his work with Acumen Assessments, he also provides organizational consultation regarding problematic interpersonal dynamics and conflicts that can ultimately lead to deficiencies in leadership and organizational functioning.

Dr. Stacy completed his doctoral training at the California School of Professional Psychology and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology at the Menninger Clinic. While at the Menninger Clinic, he served as a faculty member and consultant with the Menninger Leadership Center, providing consultation to executives within Fortune 500 companies. He has pursued further forensic assessment training through the American Academy of Forensic Psychology.

Dr. Stacy is a faculty member of the Federation of State Medical Boards and consultant regarding its policy on sexual misconduct. He is also a faculty member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and Co-Chair of the Colleague Assistance Committee for the Kansas Psychological Association.

Dr. Stacy has been involved in over 1,500 evaluation/treatment processes with licensed professionals – mostly physicians that encompass a wide range of subspecialties.  His expertise on the negative byproducts of professional burnout and its effect on judgment and behavior has been cited in periodicals such as the New York Times, Fortune, Business Week, Washington Post, Business Ledger of Chicago and Physician's Personal Advisory.  Dr. Stacy speaks throughout the United States and Canada on topics associated with physician health, distress and resulting disruptive behavior, respecting and ethically maintaining professional boundaries,  risk management, and the prevention of physician impairment and actionable expressions of professional misconduct.

Peter Graham, PhD

Dr. Graham is the co-founder of Acumen Assessments and Acumen Institute. Since 2002, Dr. Graham has focused his work on consulting with, evaluating, and treating licensed professionals and executives and their families, as well as on consulting with the teams and organizations in which they work. He has presented widely on the challenges and pitfalls of professional careers, including boundary problems, professional sexual misconduct, harassment, distress and disruption in the workplace, ethical-professional judgment, leadership, and strategic decision making. Dr. Graham is a specialist at assessing and treating professionals with disruptive behavior patterns, misconduct problems, mood and anxiety disorders, career burnout, compulsive behavior, and substance abuse. He has assessed, treated, and consulted with over 1,000 physicians, licensed professionals, and executives since 1992. Using an approach that extends from the internal dynamics of the individual to the level of organizational culture and leadership, Dr. Graham helps clients understand how their various roles and relationships, public and private, interface with one another and occasionally collide.

Dr. Graham graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego before completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology and further training in psychoanalysis at the Menninger Clinic. He served for a decade in numerous clinical, research, teaching faculty, and clinical program leadership positions at Menninger. He has also received additional orientation in management and leadership psychology and executive assessment with RHR International in Toronto and further training in forensic methods with the American Academy of Forensic Psychology.

Dr. Graham is a faculty member of the Federation of State Medical Boards, a member of the American Psychological Association and Co-Chair of the Colleague Assistance Committee for the Kansas Psychological Association. As a faculty member of the Kansas Bar Association, Dr. Graham presents regularly on subjects related to mental health, well-being, substance abuse, and clinical-legal methods.

John R. Whipple, MD

Dr. Whipple is the Medical Director of Acumen Institute and a clinical consultant to Acumen Assessments. He has extensive experience in the diagnosis and treatment of professionals. His areas of expertise are in evaluating and treating individuals who struggle with midlife burnout, have engaged in sexual misconduct or disruptive behavior, or struggle with the disease of addiction. As a psychoanalyst and Board certified psychiatrist, Dr. Whipple integrates a diverse skill-set of context-based psychotherapeutic techniques with evidence-based psychopharmacology. He has helped a vast number of professionals gain insight into their difficulties, resolve complex behavioral problems, and create more balance in their lives. Dr. Whipple brings his experience in psychodynamic psychiatry, psychoanalysis, positive psychology, and present moment consciousness to each consultation.

Following his medical education at the University of Virginia, Dr. Whipple completed an internship at the Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine and his residency training at the Menninger Clinic, where he received a Seeley Fellowship for distinguished performance. Over the course of seven years, Dr. Whipple functioned as a staff psychiatrist at the Menninger Clinic. Dr. Whipple began his psychoanalytic training at the Menninger Institute for Psychoanalysis and finished his training at the Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute.

Dr. Whipple has presented internationally on matters related to professional functioning, identity formation, gender issues, late life planning and self-development in later life maturation. He is particularly interested in the use of narrative psychotherapy processes to foster reflection and behavioral change in the workplace.

Monica Söderberg, LSCSW, DSW, LCMFT

Ms. Söderberg is a Clinical Staff member of Acumen Institute. She completed her post-masters fellowship at the Menninger Clinic and has worked in private practice since her graduation. Her areas of specialty include the assessment of family systems and dynamics to aid in understanding a client’s current difficulties and the treatment of trauma. She is a certified EMDR therapist, EMDR instructor, and diplomate in clinical social work. Ms. Söderberg is noted for her ability to help clients who have a history of strain and/or event-related trauma recover and reduce their vulnerability to re-enact self-defeating patterns of interpersonal disruption and isolation. In addition to her work with individuals struggling with trauma, Ms. Söderberg is also a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist, and ethics committee member of the Kansas Division of the National Association of Social Workers. Ms. Söderberg is a lecturer within the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare.

Sue Beckley, LSCSW

Ms. Beckley is a clinical consultant to Acumen Assessments and Acumen Institute. Her involvements with Drs. Stacy, Graham, and Whipple span over a decade. She has been actively involved in well over 1,500 assessment and treatment processes of physicians and their families. She completed her post-masters fellowship at the Menninger Clinic and went on to serve as a senior staff member of the Menninger Clinic for 15 years, working predominantly with professionals in both assessment and treatment contexts. While at the Menninger Clinic, Ms. Beckley also served as a faculty member of the Menninger Leadership Center and functioned as a regular facilitator of medical marriage retreats. She is a certified EMDR therapist and ethics committee member of the Kansas Division of the National Association of Social Workers.

Kipp Low, MCJ

Mr. Low is a certified forensic polygraph examiner and consultant to Acumen Assessments and Acumen Institute. Mr. Low is a highly valued consultant to the clinical team, as he has performed hundreds of polygraph examinations on physicians and is adept at helping to put them at ease. In addition to his work as a detective for the Topeka Police department, Mr. Low conducts a variety of polygraph examinations, including pre-employment and sex offender monitoring. Mr. Low approaches the data produced from a polygraph examination in a conservative and scientific manner. He works very closely with Drs. Graham, Stacy, and Whipple to provide valid data that fit into the comprehensive assessment process.