He divides his time between offering individual and group therapy for children ages 6 to 19, and social skills training in middle- and high-school settings. During the summer, Joel leads a Watson Institute team to provide a social-skills day camp for teenagers with high functioning autism or Aspergers. Prior to the Watson Institute, Joel provided psychotherapy in private practice and in mental health clinics. He received a master's degree in social work from the University of Louisville in 1986 and a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1979. Joel was a community organizer with the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone where he helped to build a midwife clinic and develop a health education curriculum for primary schools.