Elissa Stieglitz, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and families.  She has been trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Psychodynamic modes of therapy, and draws from each of these approaches, in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, to help children, adolescents and families to achieve their therapeutic goals and well-being. At DBT Maryland since 2018, Dr. Stieglitz brings passion, leadership and a deep sense of responsibility for the well-being of our families. Her extensive experience working with families with children as young as preschool through adulthood, from diverse backgrounds and in multiple settings, and her deep knowledge and integration of DBT philosophy and skills, informs her approach to guiding parents in using parenting strategies that balance acceptance and change, and provides structure and behavior plans in the home environment to support effective parenting skills to improve communication and family relationships.  In addition to leading our Parent Groups, Dr. Stieglitz provides therapy and parent coaching to individuals, couples and families.

 

Completing her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1991 from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Dr. Stieglitz, moved to the DC area and completed two years of post-doctoral training at the Washington School of Psychiatry’s Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Program.  Dr. Stieglitz has been a Clinical Team Leader at the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) since 1996, and a staff psychologist at RICA since 1993.  At RICA, she provides individual, family and group psychotherapy to children and adolescents with special education needs, including academic, behavioral and social-emotional difficulties, and also has extensive experience supporting families navigating the special education system.  At RICA, Dr. Stieglitz has helped deploy and integrate new therapy initiatives.  In 2008, she trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and provided trauma informed training to RICA staff and interns and, in 2014, she received training in DBT under the Linehan Institute Behavioral Tech and played a very active role in bringing DBT to RICA, serving on the implementation team and training clinicians.  Dr. Stieglitz has integrated DBT theory and practice throughout her clinical work, helping clients to cope by teaching mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills, and has led DBT Skills Groups for Adolescents, Parents and Multifamily groups.  At RICA, Dr. Stieglitz has also served as a Clinical Supervisor, mentoring and providing supervision to psychologists – both pre-licensure and post-licensure – as well as to social workers and expressive therapists. She has played an active role in RICA’s Predoctoral Internship Program and, over the years, has trained nearly 100 psychologists.

 

When not working Dr. Stieglitz enjoys cooking and entertaining, spending time with friends and family.  She loves being physically active (especially hiking, pilates, kickboxing, biking and walking), enjoys traveling and exploring culture and art, and reading books to her grandchildren.  Dr. Stieglitz is married with 4 adult children and young grandchildren. 

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“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”  Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter