Personal Statement
My research aims to improve the public health impact of evidence-based behavioral health interventions for addressing comorbidities common among ethnoculturally diverse and underserved victims of trauma, including PTSD, depression, suicidal ideation, and risky substance use. I study the integration of behavioral interventions into general medical settings, with an emphasis on provider-centered training methods to support the delivery of patient-centered interventions. My current interest is in harnessing technologic innovations in machine learning and artificial intelligence, along with user-centered design, to enhance suicide prevention training scalability and sustainability. https://darnell.psychiatry.uw.edu/
I am a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and I work as the Deputy Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. I am a licensed clinical psychologist. My research is focused on studying mental health technologies to support Veterans, Service Members, their families, and the health care staff that treat them. I research mobile applications, virtual reality, virtual standardized patients, and other innovative approaches to improve mental health education and services. I have conducted DoD and VA funded research and focus on applied interventions that may have promise to make a difference in the lives of those we serve. I am an Army Veteran and current behavioral health officer in the Washington State Army National Guard.
Personal Statement
I am Professor and Associate Director for Evidence-Based Psychosocial Interventions at the AIMS Center, and Director of the National Network of PST Clinicians, Trainers & Researchers. In these roles, I develop and lead implementation and training programs in a variety of behavioral health interventions.
Personal Statement
My work focuses on education and training in the areas of suicide prevention and suicide care. Particular interests include supporting clinicians who have experienced the loss of a patient to suicide and building knowledge among health care professionals about cultural aspects of firearm ownership and use.
Personal Statement
My career goal is to give suicidal clients and their clinicians the best chance to succeed. I have been working in the area of health services, treatment development, and clinical trials research to prevent suicide for over 20 years. My graduate training was in community/clinical psychology and focused on achieving clinical ends through prevention and other systemic interventions in socio-culturally diverse populations. I have brought these perspectives into health services research. I have developed or adapted interventions to improve care and clinician willingness to work with suicidal patients including Caring Contacts, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS), and Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS). I have developed an adaptation of DBT, Accepting the Challenges of Employment and Self-Sufficiency (DBT-ACES), a program to assist psychiatrically disabled individuals find and maintain living wage employment. My research has been funded by NIMH, NIDA, the Department of Defense, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Department of Veteran Health Affairs, and the State of Washington.
I am the director of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Recovery (CSPAR) whose mission is to promote the recovery of suicidal individuals and the effectiveness and well-being the clinicians and families who care for them by conducting rigorous and ecologically valid research, developing innovative interventions, improving policies, systems and environments of care, and providing expert training and consultation. CSPAR faculty and staff seek a deep understanding of the cultures and settings in which we work that leads to meaningful and effective interventions ready for implementation.
In addition to clinical research, I founded the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) and am the PI and Director of the Military Suicide Research Consortium Dissemination and Implementation core. These organizations focus on disseminating and implementing innovative, evidence-based interventions in the systems that need them. Beyond my research, I directed the Harborview Dialectical Behavior Therapy program at Harborview Medical Center 1996-2019, co-lead the UW DBT Training Program and have a long history of training and mentoring junior faculty, fellows, psychiatry residents, pre-doctoral psychology interns, undergraduate students, and post-baccalaureate trainees. I provide psychotherapy and consultation at the UWMC Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic.
Personal Statement
I completed my Residency in Psychiatry with the UW in 1982 and since then have worked at Harborview Medical Center in the Psychiatry Department. I am a Clinical Associate Professor and provide weekend and on-call coverage for 5MB on the Intensive Psychiatric Unit.
Personal Statement
I am a psychiatrist at the UW Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic (OPC) on Roosevelt, where I see patients for consultation, medication management, and psychotherapy, both individually and with psychiatry residents. I see patients with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, and complex trauma. I also help answer a consultation line for providers in the state of Washington who have questions about psychiatric medications during the perinatal period.
I serve as an Associate Program Director in the Psychiatry residency, where I help oversee the curriculum. My areas of interests are resident education, psychodynamic psychotherapy, outpatient psychiatry, perinatal psychiatry, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Personal Statement
I am clinical psychologist and a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and a clinical researcher specializing in ADHD throughout the lifespan. I direct the PEARL Clinic (Program to enhance attention, regulation, and learning) at Seattle Children’s. The PEARL Clinic is based on a multidisciplinary and collaborative care model which works closely with PCP’s who refer families to PEARL for evaluation and access to our behavioral group treatment programs and treatment recommendations. The PEARL clinic also provided multidisciplinary training for psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, family medicine physicians, and medical students. The majority of my clinical work involves diagnostic evaluations and consultations for the parents, referring physician, and schools.
My research emphasis is on personalizing ADHD treatment, and determining how best to combine and sequence interventions throughout the lifespan for individuals with ADHD. I have assisted in the development of several stimulant and non stimulant medications, and participated in many clinical trials. Currently, we are conducting a study for parents with ADHD who have young children with ADHD symptoms where we are treating the parent with medication and behavioral parent training or behavior parent training. I am also investigating the relationship between genetic factors and ADHD treatment response.
Other areas of interest include sleep problems and overlap with ADHD, and novel treatments such as Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation (TNS) and augmentation strategies such as mindfulness and physical exercise or activity level.
Personal Statement
I am a psychologist who carries out research, provides community education to a broad range of audiences, trains postgraduate students, works on public policy– and has served as a clinician with children and families for many years. My main interests are fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), early childhood mental health, and interventions for children born prenatally exposed to alcohol and other drugs and their families. My research is currently based at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, but I also work in collaboration with UW researchers– and scientists at the University of Rochester in New York and multiple other academic institutions. A main research focus has been the Families Moving Forward (FMF) Program, a family-focused FASD intervention, now being disseminated primarily in the USA and Canada. The FMF Program is also now being translated into a mobile health application, called FMF Connect, for even broader use. Through Seattle Children’s, I co-direct a pilot service focused on assessment and short-term consultation for youth with prenatal substance exposure (including alcohol), and their families. I also offer mental health services to a broad range of young children and develops research focused on early childhood mental health.
Over the years, beyond research and clinical work, I have been able to work toward change in national US public policy, collaborate with Indigenous communities and researchers in remote Northwestern Australia, and train dedicated young professionals in psychology and psychiatry. I am grateful for these remarkable career opportunities… and the chance to meet so many resilient and inspiring families.
Note that you can only reach me through my Seattle Children’s email, at: heather.carmichaelolson@seattlechildrens.org
Thank you for your interest in learning more about me! My name is Dr. Ruth Varkovitzky (she/her) and I am a licensed clinical psychologist. I use a culturally sensitive evidence based approach in my clinical work; combining the best science while tailoring therapy to each individual. In the spirit of providing the highest quality of care possible, I am board certified in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.
I specialize in providing therapy for trauma and sleep disorders, such as PTSD and insomnia. In addition, I offer a variety of treatments to address problems with depression, anxiety, and OCD. Supporting folks with these challenges is my passion; it’s an honor to work alongside my clients and see them heal and grow.
Public service has always been part of my journey, including collaboration with shelters for survivors of domestic violence, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Washington State Board of Psychologist Examiners. In addition to my passion for clinical work, I’ve enjoyed contributing to psychological science through academic and media publications. I established my private practice Renewal Psychology to offer my services to clients in Washington as well as the many state members of the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT).
