Community Profile: Jeff Corpuel

In his seventh year as the leader for the North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation Holiday Food and Clothing Project

Living in Incline Village, it is possible to become involved in so many different activities and enjoy the beauty of the area, that you can totally forget what is happening in the world around you. But that did not happen to Jeff Corpuel and it is because of his interest in helping others that so many in our community receive help.



Corpuel was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1951 and within four years his family moved from there to Long Island. This is where he spent his childhood, in the community of Woodmere, New York and graduated from Lawrence High School. This Long Island community actually consists of “Five Towns” within the town of Hempstead that include the villages of Lawrence and Cedarhurst, hamlets of Woodmere and Inwood and then hewletts of Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, Hewlett and Woodsburgh.

“I had a love for the mountains and the natural environment,” Corpuel said.

So for college, Corpuel selected a private college in the mountains of Vermont; Goddard College.

Traveling, learning and discovering psychology

But after his first year at Goddard, his lifelong hobby of traveling called him to the open road, leading him out to the West Coast for the first time.

“I just came through Tahoe in 1970 and stayed at a campsite on the Truckee River,” he said.

“My first introduction to psychology was at this time,” Corpuel said.

He not only was interested in both psychology and experiential psychology, he also worked in a mental health facility while he tried to find his bearings about what he wanted in life.

Next Corpuel was off to Europe.

“I covered the countries of Germany and Italy and ended up living in Greece for six months doing menial labor,” he said. “It was after being in Europe by myself that I decided I wanted to become a psychologist and came back to get my undergraduate degree.”

He received his undergraduate degree at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.

“While working in mental health facilities, I got interested in experiencing my own psychological life and was fascinated by other peoples lives,” he said. “I was taken with people’s resilience and creativity and ability to withstand trauma and mobilize their own resources and thrive. That’s what got me interested.”

In 1977 Corpuel again headed to the West Coast, this time to attend the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley for grad school where he received his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1977. While attending school he met Carol, now his wife, in 1977. They dated throughout grad school and were married in 1983. The couple decided to settle down in the Bay Area and Corpuel practiced there for one year.

Returning to the mountains to stay

But after a year, the Corpuel’s decided to move back to the East Coast. “We loved the Bay Area but decided to raise our family near my family so we settled in Fairfield, Conn.,” he said.

Fairfield was home for eight years and during this time Corpuel had his own practice. But each year the family found they wanted to vacation in the mountains. So for 15 years they would pack up and head to the mountains, usually in Montana where they camped or rented a house.

It was when they finally decided that they could actually own a home of their own in the mountains that moving fever struck again.

“We had vacationed here a few times and remembered Lake Tahoe with great fondness,” he said.

The Corpuels started checking out schools for their two young daughters and also a place to locate Corpuel’s private practice.

“We picked up, sold the house and lock, stock and barrel came out,” Corpuel said. “The kids were 5 years old and 9 months.”

The first year out here found the Corpuel’s living in Truckee while they scouted out where to locate his practice. When they came to the conclusion that they both wanted to work in Reno, the next step was to live in Incline Village. Corpuel’s practice is located in Reno and his wife works at St. Mary’s in Reno too.

“Incline provided a well- educated professional community, good schools and offered so much,” Corpuel said.



The family moved to Truckee in 1991 but in 1992 they moved to Incline Village.

“And I don’t plan to move again.” he said.

“Not everyone is comfortable, has food and warm clothes.”

Corpuel not only established his own practice in Reno but he also became involved in the North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation. In 1992 he learned from the Rabbi about a food distribution project and became interested.

“It was important to me, especially for my kids as I felt we were living in a sheltered environment and did not understand that not everyone is comfortable, has food and warm clothes,” he said.

Corpuel not only became involved in the project as a volunteer, it also became a family project with the children helping.

“Our daughters were involved from an early age. One sat in an infant carrier at our Lady of the Lake and the five year old helped,” he said.

“The food distribution project had been started by Father Leonard Shaheen of St. Nicholas Church in the ‘70s,” Corpuel said. “It was partnered with Pastor Chip Larson of Tahoe City’s Christ the King Lutheran Church and later joined with the North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation and that was when we became volunteers.”

The North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation Holiday Food and Clothing Project was started by Jake Cohen, a senior in high school at North Tahoe Corpuel said. It was a senior project for Cohen of food distribution on a small scale and Cohen had asked the congregation to help.

“I had been looking for a way to broaden the way I helped people,” Corpuel said. “As a psychologist I can help people change their lives but wanted to help on a larger scale. This was an opportunity to help people in my community clearly hurting. So once Jake’s project was over I took it on as a congregational project. This is my seventh year.”

When Corpuel first started working on the project he admitted the project included three months of intense work for him and the first year was the most challenging for him. “I had no road map,” he said.

Now the entire project has also changed as the first year the families had been referred by the Placer County Sheriff’s office.

“I did a lot of outreach, connected with George LeBard of Project MANA and learned about all these people that fall through the cracks,” Corpuel said.

That was when he started working with the Family Resource Center, Tahoe Women’s Services, Wick, Placer County Sheriff, the Boys and Girls Club, and Placer County Human Services. With this outreach, the list of people grew.

“It almost doubled because of the outreach,” Corpuel said. “I was saddened because the number increased dramatically. Last year we had over 225 families and we will probably reach 260 families this year, a 20 per cent increase.”

The program has become more efficient through the years even with the growing numbers in need. “The positive aspect for me is there is so much community energy and interest in helping families,” he said. “It is gratifying that it has become such an event in the community. The response is enthusiastic.”

“Repair of the world”

Now after seven years, Corpuel is interested in continuing to be a part of the project but a couple of people have decided to take on the role of leadership. Barbara Cohen, Jake’s mother is one and Norman Sussman will help the project live on.

And for Corpuel? He will continue to work on the committee, Tikkun Olam. He explained that in Hebrew it means, repair of the world and is a social action committee that he is interested in broadening as a part of the NTHC.

But Corpuel also finds time to help the Incline High School girls tennis team, where he is an assistant tennis coach.

And soon life for the Corpuel’s will be changing as their youngest daughter graduates in the spring of 2009 from Incline High School. But, as Corpuel said, he is not interested in moving again so it will be time to enjoy some of the natural beauty that he loves so much.



QUICK FACTS

Family: Wife, Carol

Daughters: Jessica and Rebecca

Education: Doctorate in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, Berkeley

Practice and Professional: Is in private practice in Reno; Past president of Nevada State Psychological Association; Adjunct faculty at University of Reno School of Medicine; published author of the chapter Counter Transference in the publication “Handbook of Contemporary Psychotherapy.”

Hobbies: Tennis, skiing, hiking, reading, travel, loves to cook and travel

Philosophy: “Leave the world in a better condition than I found it in.”