Professionals

Professionals

Compass Research & Training Institute

Compass Research & Training Institute offers evidenced-based trainings to the larger Orange County community of mental health professionals.

DBT Foundational Training

Compass Research & Training Institute is excited to announce our 4-day Foundational Training!

Happy employees
Our Foundational Training is led by CR&TI’s Associate Training Director Marissa Colangelo Hernandez, LCSW and Associate Director of Postdoctoral Fellowships Nicole Zaha, Psy.D.
Our Foundational Trainings are offered to CR&TI’s practicum and post-doc trainees, as well as the community. This training is designed for mental health professionals who have no prior DBT Training as well as those who would like a refresher. We will cover a foundation of DBT’s strategies, principles and protocols.

When/Where is the Training Held?

Where:
Hybrid – In person 130 South B Street Tustin CA & Remote via Microsoft Teams

When:
January 29 – February 1st

Cost:
Early Bird Registration: $900 – Register by Jan 1
Standard Registration: $1000

Practicum for Master’s Program

What can CR&TI offer me?

CR&TI provides a well-rounded experience that will harness the necessary skills and prepare you for your career as a clinician. At CR&TI, not only will you have clinical experiences such as individual and skills coaching clients and opportunities to co-lead evidenced-based groups such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, you’ll be given opportunities to engage in Intake Assessments and Coordination, Case Management and Research.
Additionally, you get to participate on a well-rounded team that consists of master level clinicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, dietitians and experts from various fields.

Supervision

Supervision is a sacred space and an important component to your training at CR&TI. We offer both individual and group supervision, depending on the needs. All practicum students are assigned a Senior Clinician as their primary supervisor. Senior Clinicians have completed supervisory courses, are intensively trained in DBT and are DBT-LBC Certified Clinicians.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Training

Choosing CR&TI as your practicum site means you are committed to evidence-based therapy and trainings. You will receive a foundational training in DBT and receive additional supervision specific to DBT. Choosing CR&TI as your practicum site means you are willing and committed to take on more reading and homework than some of your peers. DBT is the Gold Standard Treatment for Emotion Dysregulation disorders, making you extremely hirable after graduation.

Master Program Partnerships

Compass Research & Training Institute (CR&TI) is proud to host students from esteemed master’s programs and aid in their education and training experience. CR&TI partners with Columbia School of Social Work, California State University, Long Beach, University of Massachusetts and Chapman University.
Don’t see your University listed here? Interested in partnering with CR&TI? Please email Marissa at trainings@mycompassnow.com

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
(LCSW #78805)
DBT-Linehan Board of Certification,
Certified DBT Clinician™

Marissa Colangelo

Marissa Colangelo, LCSW graduated from Columbia School of Social Work where she received her DBT intensive training and participated in Dr. Andre Ivanoff’s DBT Lab during her second year. Marissa is a DBT-LBC Certified Clinician and also contributes to the DBT-LBC board. She serves as Compass Research & Training Institute Associate Training Director, provides Clinical Supervision and is a Field Instructor with Columbia School of Social Work.

Prior to her work at Compass Research & Training Institute, Marissa assisted in the development of the Day Treatment Program at Clearview Treatment Programs where she facilitated the DBT Family Program.

Practicum for Doctoral Psychology Students

Compass Research & Training Institute (CR&TI) offers a 1-year clinical practicum for doctoral level psychology students with special emphasis in learning and implementing comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy. The doctoral practicum student at CR&TI will also be provided with a robust training and experience in other evidence-based treatments (such as DBT-PE, CBT, ERP, and BA, ACT) during the practicum year.

Practicum students would get a range of experience with complex problems, including self-injury, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, autism spectrum disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, and attention deficit disorders.
Our clientele are diverse in gender identity, ethnicity, culture, and language. We have a large population of transgender youth. Multilingual applicants are also encouraged to apply.
Intensive supervision includes frequent review of the student’s therapy sessions and will require the student to participate in weekly DBT Consultation meetings and to aim to provide comprehensive services to clientele and by recording and reviewing sessions in supervision or consult meetings.

Caseload average is 3 clients/families.

Time commitment weekly is 10-15 hours.

A portion of the students’ time may include experience providing DBT individual and family skills coaching, conducting intakes, co-leading DBT and CBT groups, case management, and administrative tasks.

Didactics will be provided.

The estimated start date is January 2024.
If you are interested in further information, please contact Dr. Nicole Zaha, Psy.D. at trainings@mycompassnow.com.

Associate Director of
Post Doctoral Training

Licensed Clinical Psychologist
(Lic. PSY29916)
DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™

Nicole Zaha

Dr. Nicole Zaha, Psy.D., Associate Director of Post Doctoral Training, Clinical Supervisor, Licensed Clinical Psychologist (Lic. PSY29916) DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™

Dr. Zaha mentors post-doctoral psychologists through Compass’ Comprehensive DBT Fellowship training program. She has also provided individual, group, skills coaching, and family therapies at residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and outpatient levels of care and supervision to residential staff at Compass Behavioral Health since 2017. Dr. Zaha was intensively trained in DBT, CBT, ACT, and CBASP during her practicum at Harbor-UCLA in 2008-2009, under the direction of Lynn McFarr, Ph.D. Dr. Zaha’s internship was completed at Metropolitan State Hospital (APA Accredited), in Norwalk, California, in which she helped to train and develop an inpatient DBT team, and provided DBT services to patients on a specialized unit.

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Dialectical Behavior Therapy:

A Collaboration between DBT San Diego and Compass Behavioral Health

Compass Behavioral Health and DBT San Diego are honored to present our 2-year Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Psychology Fellowship. This is an advanced clinical training opportunity in comprehensive DBT for Postdoctoral students in Psychology. The training program aims to mentor psychologists who wish to specialize in DBT and in the treatment of emotion dysregulation disorders. The fellow is not expected to have prior training and experience delivering DBT. The training goal is to help psychologists learn and strengthen their skills in both DBT and other evidence-based treatments (DBT-PE, CBT, ERP, BA, ACT) during the fellowship year(s). We are seeking fellows who are passionate about providing comprehensive DBT to high-risk children, teens, and adults, across a range of modalities (individual, group, and family therapy in OP, IOP, PHP, and residential levels of care).

We focus on treating complex clients with a range of problems including self-injury, complex PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorders, panic disorder, borderline personality disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, autism spectrum disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, and attention deficit disorders. Our clientele are diverse in gender identity, ethnicity, culture, and language. Multilingual applicants are encouraged to apply. We have a large population of transgender youth.

Eligible candidates must be U.S. citizens and must have completed a doctoral degree in Clinical or Counseling Psychology, including a doctoral internship, from APA-accredited program. Our sites are equal opportunity employers and provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. Applicants from underrepresented communities are strongly encouraged to apply. Following the completion of the fellowship, a full time, paid position as a Licensed Psychologist may be offered. Intensive supervision will include frequent review of the fellow’s therapy sessions. The fellowship will be a full time position, is heavily clinical, however also includes serving the role of a Research Clinician. The role involves data collection with consenting clients in session and adhering to target standardization in creating target behaviors. Opportunities are provided to be more closely involved in research, such as in data analysis or presenting at professional conferences, depending on the interest on the fellow/intern.

Applications are currently being accepted. Please feel free to contact Dr. Nicole Zaha, for questions and the application for the Orange County site (nicole@compassbehavioralhealth.com) and Dr. Milton Brown for questions and the application related to the DBT San Diego site (admin@dbtsandiego.com).

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

Compass Behavioral Health’s DBT Adolescent Residential Rotation will allow fellows experience in working with complex psychiatric co-occurring conditions at a residential level of care. Residents are 12 to 18 yrs of age, have a history of multiple inpatient hospitalizations, and due to their acuity require 30 to 90 days in a 24 hr supervised care setting. Fellows will be supervised by a Board-Certified Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist trained in DBT, integrative medicine, and nutritional psychiatry.

To learn more about our residential program click here.

Fellows will carry a residential case load and gain experience in assessment, treatment planning, medication management, DBT Skills, and nutritional psychiatry interventions, while participating on a multi-disciplinary treatment team consisting of psychiatry, Registered Dietician/ Eating Disorder Specialist, Primary Care Medicine/ Eating Disorder Specialist, psychologists, nursing, clinical social workers, family therapists, and milieu staff. Additionally, fellows will gain experience participating on a Compass – Duke University Clinical Research study, exploring the treatment of identity dysregulation in suicidal and self-harming adolescents.

To learn more about our research outcomes click here.

Fellows will have the option to treat a resident providing DBT individual therapy under the supervision of a DBT-LBC Certified Clinician™ who is both calibrated DBT Adherence Coders through University of Washington, and DBT Adherence Coders for DBT-Linehan Board of Certification™.  Fellows will also have the option of participating in DBT Multi-Family Skills Training Group.

  • Learning objectives for this rotation include a deep dive into the behavioral analysis of suicide attempts, self-harm, and eating disorder behaviors.   
  • Fellows will learn to identify functions of behaviors, missing emotion regulation skills, and when treatment calls for DBT Skills training, MAT, or contingency management of the environment.  Fellows will develop expertise in the differential diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder versus frequently co-occurring mood disorders. 
  •  Additionally, fellows will be taught nutritional psychiatry didactics and will develop expertise in providing psychoeducation to families on how to stabilize mood through food.
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

Compass Behavioral Health, Tustin, California

  • California’s First DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Program™ 
  • Duke University Clinical Research Performance Site 
  • Columbia School of Social Work: Selected Practicum Training Site  
  • UCI School of Medicine Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

Interested in our Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship? Email Dr. Nicole Motakef at trainings@mycompassnow.com.

Dr. Nicole Motakef, D.O.

COMPASS RTC MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Medical License in California
(License No. 20A16793)

Board certified in General Psychiatry by American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Board Certified in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Nicole Motakef

In Dr. Nicole’s role as Medical Director of the Compass Residential Treatment Program (RTC), The Farmhouse, she oversees the medication management and overall psychiatric treatment of residents. Dr. Nicole works closely with the Compass Chef to develop nutritional psychiatry informed menu programming, utilizing food as a source of mood stabilization, improving focus, and enhancing overall well-being and health.

Early in her training in medicine, Dr. Nicole realized quickly that health is far from black and white, and medicine is often looked at from the standpoint of disease and what is wrong, rather than searching for optimal health. It was through her intensive training that Dr. Nicole found medications far from enough to help those struggling with their mental health. By integrating therapy, self-discovery, mindfulness, nutrition, exercise and sometimes medications, we can live an emboldened life to the fullest.
At Compass Behavioral Health, Dr. Nicole found a community of providers that embodied these values of wellness where a life worth living can be realized.

Professional Resources

American Psychiatric Association (APA)

888.357.7924 or 703.907.7300
apa@psych.org
www.psych.org

American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)

Office: 202.966.7300
Fax: 202.966.2891
www.aacap.org

Behavioral Tech

DBT referral, training and resources
206.675.8588
www.behavioraltech.com
information@behavioraltech.com

Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified

Robert O. Friedel, M.D.
(Resources and news about BPD)
www.bpddemystified.com

Practice Ground

Online learning community
for DBT professionals
www.practiceground.org

Books and Publications

Bateman, Anthony, MA, FRC, and Peter Fonagy, Ph.D., FBA. Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Mentalization-based Treatment. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.

Bateman, Anthony, MA, FRC Psych, and Peter Fonagy, Ph.D., FBA. Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub., 2012.

Bleiberg, Efrain, MD. Treating Personality Disorders in Children and Adolescents: A Relational Approach. New York: Guilford, 2004.

Bockian, Neil R., Valerie Porr, and Nora Elizabeth. Villagran. New Hope for People with Borderline Personality Disorder. Roseville, CA: Prima, 2002.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 2013.

Dimeff, Linda A., and Kelly Koerner. Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Clinical Practice: Applications across Disorders and Settings. New York: Guilford, 2007.

Goleman, Daniel. Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them?

A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. New York: Bantam, 2003.

Goleman, Daniel. Healing Emotions: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mindfulness, Emotions, and Health. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.

Gunderson, John G., MD, and Paul S. Links. Borderline Personality Disorder: A Clinical Guide. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric, 2008.

Gunderson, John G., MD, and Perry D. Hoffman. Understanding and Treating Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for Professionals and Families. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub., 2005.

Hoffman, Perry D., Ph.D., and Penny Steiner-Grossman, Ed.D., MPH. Borderline Personality Disorder: Meeting the Challenges to Successful Treatment. Binghamton, NY: Haworth, 2007.

Judd, Patricia Hoffman, and Thomas H. McGlashan. A Developmental Model of Borderline Personality Disorder: Understanding Variations in Course and Outcome. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub., 2003.

Koerner, Kelly. Doing Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Practical Guide. New York: Guilford, 2012.

Krawitz, Roy, and Wendy Jackson. Borderline Personality Disorder. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008.

Kreger, Randi, and Erik Gunn. The ABC’s of BPD : The Basics of Borderline Personality Disorder. Milwaukee: Eggshells, 2007.

Linehan, Marsha, Ph.D. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford, 1993.

Linehan, Marsha, Ph.D. Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford, 1993.

McKay, Matthew, Ph.D., Jeffrey C. Wood, Ph.D., and Jeffrey Brantley, MD.

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation & Distress Tolerance. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2007.

Mondimore, Francis Mark, MD, and Patrick Kelly, MD. Borderline Personality Disorder: New Reasons for Hope. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2011.

Moskovitz, MD., Richard A. Lost in the Mirror An Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder. Dallas, TX: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2001.

Paris, Joel, MD. Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide to Evidence-based Practice. New York: Guilford, 2008.

Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2001.

Preston, John, Psy.D. Integrative Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder: Effective, Symptom-focused Techniques, Simplified for Private Practice. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2006.

Pryor, Karen. Don’t Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training. 3rd ed. Dorking, Surrey: Ringpress, 2006.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Borderline Personality Disorder.

Videos

Andrew Solomon: Love, No Matter What. Perf. Andrew Solomon.
TED. TED Conferences, LLC, Apr. 2013

DBT Peer Connections Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training Video Series. Rachel Gill. Youtube. 2014

If Only We Had Known: A Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder (5 DVD set) Dawkins Productions. 2014.

It’s Not About the Nail. Posted by Jason Headley. YouTube. 22 May 2013.

May BPD Awareness Video Series. NEABPD. Alan Fruzzetti.

Why Empathy Is More Powerful Than Sympathy. By Cate Matthews. Perf. Brene Brown. HuffPost Heathy Living. Huffington Post, 12 Dec.

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A family of professionals and caring guides.

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130 SOUTH B STREET TUSTIN, CA 92780

INTAKE@MYCOMPASSNOW.COM

(888) 265-9114