CBC Team

Joanna Stern, Psy.D. is a psychologist with over 15 years of experience in the evaluation and treatment of children, adolescents, young adults and families. Dr. Stern is intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and has been providing comprehensive DBT to children, adolescents, young adults and their families for over a decade. In addition, Dr. Stern has strong clinical foundations in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and behavioral parent training for a wide variety of symptoms and diagnoses including mood and anxiety disorders and ADHD. Her areas of specialization include working with parents through the lens of DBT and working with adolescents and young adults with mood, anxiety and personality disorders.

Dr. Stern has been intensively trained in DBT-C, an adaptation of DBT for pre-adolescent children and their parents and caregivers, and has provided this treatment for nearly a decade. Dr. Stern has also undergone intensive training in Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT), a transdiagnostic adaptation of traditional DBT that focuses on helping people with maladaptive overcontrolled coping patterns such as perfectionism who experience problems in their relationships and their daily lives.

Dr. Stern is also dedicated to increasing public awareness about DBT and other empirically supported treatments for mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Stern has taught and spoken extensively in the New York City and national communities using DBT and RO-DBT skills as a framework through which to help parents and educators provide support to children, teens and young adults who struggle with anxiety and depression.

Dr. Stern earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University with a double major in Child Development and French, having studied abroad in Paris during her undergraduate education. Dr. Stern graduated from Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus with a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology. She received her clinical training at major academic medical centers in the New York City area including the Mount Sinai Health System and the Northwell Health System. For over a decade, Dr. Stern has also provided clinical supervision and training to professionals training in the fields of social work, psychology and psychiatry at major academic medical centers and private mental health institutes. Prior to joining CBC, Dr. Stern was the Senior Director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute in New York City and also previously served as the director of DBT programs.