A therapist, author, consultant, and public speaker, Dominic Herbst, M.S., M.A., Certified Psychologist, is a nationally renowned figure in the fields of juvenile justice and family therapy.

While serving as the Chief Adult/Juvenile Probation Officer for Snyder/Union County (17th Judicial District of Pennsylvania), Herbst recognized the need for a comprehensive community-based program. Based on his desire to bring healing and restoration to youth and their families, Herbst founded the Bethesda Day Treatment Center* in 1983. In 1985, he assumed full-time directorship of the program. He also established the Bethesda Alternative Education Program for troubled youth who were failing in the public education mainstream. There are now ten day treatment program centers throughout Pennsylvania serving 19 counties and 60 school districts.

Herbst's highly successful work with troubled youth and their families has achieved national recognition for Bethesda from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges Commission, and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Bethesda Day Treatment Center* has been recognized as a multi-year national model by the U.S. Department of Justice and received the Gould-Wysinger Award "for exceptional achievements in Juvenile Justice" in 1992. Herbst and Bethesda were also featured in four national television documentaries: Victory Over Violence, produced by Arnold Shapiro Productions and narrated by Walter Cronkite; Sticks and Stones, produced by George Rivera Productions; and Breaking the Cycle of Violence, produced by the National Educational Service Foundation. Bethesda's Parenting Program, which Herbst developed, was the focus of a one-hour made-for-television Father's Day Special titled BAD DADS and narrated by George Foreman, which aired on the FOX-TV network in June 1996. Herbst also received the title of "visionary" after being selected, along with Bethesda, for inclusion in the PBS documentary series Visionaries, which highlights the work of individuals and organizations who "inspire positive social change" in the world.

In July 1995, Herbst established and became president of the not-for-profit corporation Bethesda Family Services Foundation. Committed to healing hearts and changing lives through the replication and dissemination of Bethesda's treatment methodology outside of Pennsylvania, Bethesda Family Services Foundation was initially funded by the U. S. Department of Justice.  The Bethesda model is currently being utilized throughout the country in a variety of venues ranging from prisons to churches. Herbst's work is expanding even more, as he is currently working with the National Basketball Association to assist with resolving player conflicts that seem to be escalating in recent years.

Herbst's greatest work is his development of the Relationship Sequence, a pictorial model which provides an understanding of how past relationships influence current behaviors. This model shows that as one inserts his past memories of pain, he is able to connect that insight with those behaviors that need to be changed. The Relationship Sequence contains the "Four Steps to Emotional Healing," a journey to victory, restoration, and emotional healing. It has been described as simple in method, but profound in impact. All of this is encompassed in Bethesda's comprehensive Relational Healing Manual, an instructional blueprint designed by Herbst to instruct therapists in the implementation of his healing model.

Herbst has been instrumental in the formation of a variety of community volunteer organizations. He has also served as a member of the Juvenile Advisory Committee of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Pennsylvania Council of Chief Juvenile Probation Officers, the Board of Directors of the National Right to Read Foundation, and the Editorial Board of Reaching Today's Youth: The Community Circle of Caring Journal. Herbst was named 1997 Volunteer of the Year by the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg and has been a presenter for numerous national and governmental conferences. He has also written a variety of articles for national publications, including Emotional Healing for Aggressive Youth, published by The Education Digest; The Doorway To Freedom: A Four Step Process for Healing Troubled Youth, published by Reaching Today's Youth; and Fathering From Prison: Common Struggles and Successful Solutions, co-authored by Phillip Magaletta, Ph.D., and published in The Journal of Psychology.

Herbst graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from West Chester University, an M.S. in the Administration of Justice from Shippensburg University, and an M.A. in Counseling from Liberty University. He was certified as a psychologist on March 31, 2000, by the Northamerican Association of Masters in Psychology.