Patricia Ellis, PhD

I am a clinical psychologist experienced in helping adults cope with depression, anxiety, other mood disorders, and stress.

From my experience of many years in the mental health field, I have come to see therapy as a companion experience to help individuals identify strengths, abilities, values, and beliefs that can become tools for reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and various life issues. Using an eclectic approach using tools from Psychodynamic (from my Masters degree training), from CBT (from my doctoral training) and Acceptance and Commitment therapies (from trainings and workshops in my continuing education experience), I strive to help individuals determine those inner drives, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that can help them move forward in a confident and fulfilling way that, in turn, leads to self-confidence, self-efficacy, and resiliency for those individuals.

I worked in between each of my degrees, actually first working as a K-12 music teacher before becoming a Masters level clinician, and later a psychologist. The life experiences I've had and from the many people and friends I have met through those experiences have also helped me to believe that therapy is a means for making sense of life through our experiences and finding new ways to enrich ourselves through them. In fact, it was the stories I heard from former students when I was a music teacher that led me to go on to get my Masters degree and later my Doctorate degree. My experience in mental health has included working in crisis intervention, disaster human services, with various clinical issues and personality disorders and helping everyone come to understand they are and continue to be resilient people who can and do effect positive change in themselves and others. While my years in practice reflects my years since being licensed as a psychologist, my total years working in the mental health field are now over 40 years total. I am committed to continue to lift up individuals who are seeking mental health services.

Although I am a psychologist, I am also a mom, grandmother, and active community member, who believes that with a combination of who we are, who we want to be, and what we hold as important values can and do make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others. While there may be challenges in our lives, by identifying and overcoming the barriers, and developing tools to remove them, there is opportunity for growth for all of us.