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Trina Dolenz          

Couples Therapist on VH1's "Tool Academy"

As ecstatic, thrilling, and, gratifying as romantic relationships can be, sooner or later come the rocky times. From hot and steamy to cold and icy, things can change before you know it! For young adults, those least prepared to navigate troubled waters, they will either change course in the wrong places or jump ship when all else fails. Now couples therapist TRINA DOLENZ of VH1s breakout hit show, Tool Academy brings an insightful and entertaining evening of practical advice on sex, dating and relationships to campus. This unique interactive forum also includes selected couples from the audience evaluated and transformed on stage.

Educated and trained in Cambridge, England and later in London, where she earned her Relate Post Graduate Diploma in Couples Therapy, the British-born therapist draws from years of experience as she counsels her charges -- confused, unhappy young women and their mostly ill-behaved mates. After each weeks challenge, Dolenz carefully interprets their performances as couples, pointing out where they are succeeding and, of course, where they are failing. Only a fraction of her time with them is shown on the series; in fact, through the season, each couple has the opportunity to benefit from hours of her expertise and guidance.

Originally from Hertfordshire, Dolenz grew up in the English countryside, and then, planning to become a veterinarian, studied zoology at London University. But a trip to the United States and a chance meeting with Micky Dolenz of The Monkees intervened, and in 1977 her career as a veterinarian gave way to marriage to Dolenz (whose career she also managed), motherhood, a decade as a sought-after print and commercial model and head of her own TV and commercial production company.

When her marriage and the idyllic life split between a London townhouse and a country estate in Nottinghamshire ended in 1992, Dolenz devoted herself to training in the specialized field of couples psychotherapy. She built a successful private practice in London and continued her specialized studies in the pathologies of extramarital affairs and domestic violence.

She recently relocated to Los Angeles, where she now lives with her black Chihuahua, Molecule

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