Fritz Redl was born in Klaus, Austria and studied at the Psychoanalytic Training Institute in Vienna.
He found it difficult to work under the Nazi regime and immigrated to the USA in the late 1930’s. There he became a research associate at the Rockefeller Foundation.
Redl had a deep interest in juvenile delinquency and was at the forefront of working in those areas that effected their emotional growth. He, along with a former student, David Wineman, developed many approaches for sophisticated intervention to help children and their parents. His work and writings are still the foundations from which many child psychologists approach problems of emotionally disturbed children. Redl was a professor of social work at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, from 1941 to1953. He was then appointed chief of the Child Research Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, a position he held until 1959. He was then appointed a professor of behavioral science at Wayne State University. The modern Psychoeducation movement derives from the work of Fritz Redl.