Dr. Frank D. Lemus Sr.

About the author:

Over more than three decades, Frank Lemus’ work with couples, families and individuals in his bi-lingual (English/Spanish) practice, as well as his work with relationships within organizations ranging from private companies to government agencies and programs, and his many conference and workshop presentations, has allowed him to identify and develop six skills essential to strengthening the bonds of relationships in all these contexts and informs his first book, Relationship DNA.

Here Frank presents the core concepts developed through his work and fulfills his promise to do so to his thousands of clients, his many colleagues and those who are working to follow his model. Relationship DNA is a straightforward, yet warm and colorful presentation of the principles and approach that have carried him from immigrant son, to championship athlete, to award-winning graduate student, to Vietnam Veteran, to renowned coach and earned him a reputation as a “master therapist.”

Frank offers extensive experience and sound strategies proven beneficial in helping to bring the best to relationships through his successful model. Relationship DNA is the definitive guide for anyone who wants their relationships to attain their optimal potential.

Follow this with the About the Author section after the Read More notation . . .

Frank D. Lemus, Sr., is an individual, marriage and family therapist who is currently in private practice in Reno/Sparks, Nevada. The place he has called “home” for all but his first two years of life.

Frank learned his first lessons about relationships from his family of origin – his father, Fernando (Pop) and his mother Guadalupe, his four brothers and his sister. Being the oldest of his siblings, he became the one responsible for his younger brothers and sister. Like all of us, his beliefs about relationships began to form during these early growing-up years. Unlike most of us, he was raised in a Latino home where Spanish was spoken and, simultaneously, he had to learn to survive in an outside world that spoke English. Frank continued to learn about relationships as he entered elementary school not knowing English. It was athletics that soon became his primary teacher. As a high school and collegiate athlete, his coaches and teammates were key to furthering his understandings about how the world works, especially where relationships are involved.

Frank began his career by working directly with youth as an athletic coach in a parochial school. His career path in education was interrupted by his service as a young Lieutenant in the United States Army that included a tour in Vietnam. After coming home to his wife and young children, Frank returned to his career as a public school educator as a coach, teacher, counselor and program director in the Washoe County School District, serving last as the administrator of the special secondary schools program for the severely emotionally and behaviorally challenged youth of the district. Frank’s passion and drive to work with people through athletics, drove him to found the Rail City Striders Track and Field Club - a summer program partnering Reed High School with the Sparks City Recreation Department. Frank credits the Rail City Striders as giving him an important additional opportunity to understand the make-up of relationships and to hone his relationship theory and skills. Concurrent to all of this, Frank launched his private therapy practice. As the demands of his bi-lingual practice grew, Frank faced the decision leading him to step out of public schools after twenty-five years and focus solely on his practice which is now entering its fourth decade.

Frank is the founder of The Pueblo Project - designed to enhance the well-being of families and community. The Pueblo Project has currently added the Latino Starting Point, an interactive, educational group for Latino parents and their families, focused on creating a better functioning family through teaching parents to reestablish their role as leaders of their family. In conjunction with the Juvenile Probation Division of Washoe County, Frank, with the assistance of his sister, Alice Blalock, offer the Latino Starting Point weekly.

If you were to accompany Frank on a walkabout any given day in the Reno/Sparks area, it would be impossible for you not to run into people who know him. Some of them will call him Coach Lemus and some will call him Dr Lemus, while still others will call him Frank, Frankie, Francisco, or even Cisco. (And if you run into his mom, Lupe, you will likely hear him called Pancho.) Whether in English or Spanish, each of them will greet him, as they launch into some story that they share. You will feel immediately welcomed into the friendship circle and will be laughing along with the two of them as the story unfolds. Guaranteed!

Frank is grateful for his life in the Reno/Sparks community and all that it has offered to him, including his formal education at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). He continues to live in Reno with his wife, Judi Kosterman. His children and grandchildren, his siblings and their families are also in the area. This fact means that Thanksgiving dinner at his mother’s original home in Sparks counts over forty seats at the table that begins at the front door and takes a left turn through the living room. There is always room for one more . . . considered yourself invited!