Lizbeth Gaona, Ph.D. :: Consultant & Trainer
Dr. Gaona is an assistant professor at California Baptist University in Riverside, California. She has extensive experience working as clinical consultant and clinical supervisor in community mental health programs. She received her B.A. in psychology from University of California, Los Angeles, her Master’s in Social Work at California State University, Los Angeles and her doctorate at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Before returning to academia to pursue a doctorate, as a licensed clinical social worker, Dr. Gaona received rigorous clinical training with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Gaona was intensively trained in DBT in 2010 and has received training in DBT for Substance Abuse, DBT+PE (Prolonged Exposure), and DBT-ACES (Accepting the Challenges of Exiting the System). From 2014-2015 Dr. Gaona served as the Director of the DBT-ACES program at Harbor UCLA Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic. Along with her colleagues Dr. Gaona founded the first DBT Spanish adherent program within Los Angeles County in 2007. Dr. Gaona also participated in dissemination and implementation efforts of adherent cognitive behavior therapy in a collaborative project between the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and the Association of Cognitive and Behavior Therapy (A-CBT) and continues to serve as a DBT program consultant for Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. In addition, Dr. Gaona serves a board member for the Association of Cognitive and Behavior Therapy (A-CBT). Some of Dr. Gaona’s research interests include, community mental health outcomes, serious mental illness, culturally adapted evidenced based intervention research, evidenced based treatment outcomes across cultures, religion and trauma.