About Me

I'm a licensed psychologist in California (PSY26136) with over 14 years of clinical experience and a passion for applying psychological concepts and scientific principles to improving experiences of individuals seeking mental health care, psychotherapists, and others with a desire to improve their life course. 

My clinical approach is integrative, collaborative, evidence-based and flexible to the needs and goals of the individuals with whom I work. I believe the therapeutic relationship is the key vehicle that can help people explore their innermost selves more freely and openly in order to make important shifts in their approach to life.

Clinical Specialties: personality, attachment and lifespan development, psychological growth, self-care, culture, trauma, addictions, psychedelic integration and meaning-making

Applied Specialties: creativity, team development and functioning, diversity, interdisciplinary collaboration, communication and film studies, research design, development and use of technology (apps, web programs, etc.) to increase access to care 

Education
Certification in Psychedelic-assisted Therapies & Research - California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
Mentor: Bill Richards, PhD

Fellowships – San Francisco VA Medical Center
Stephen Rao Fellowship in Interprofessional LGBT Health Care (2013-2014)
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder & Substance Use  (2012-2013)

Internship – VA Palo Alto Health Care System (2011-2012)

PhD in Clinical Psychology – Emory University (2012)                                                 
Graduate Affiliate in Studies in Sexuality
Dissertation: Attachment, Personality & Lifespan Development: Empirical & Theoretical Applications of Attachment Theory to Pathological and Optimal Adult Development
Co-Chairs:  Drew Westen, PhD, & Bekh Bradley, PhD; Passed:  April 2011

MA in Clinical Psychology – Emory University (2007)
Master’s Thesis: Personality Subtypes of Suicidal Adults
Chair:  Drew Westen, PhD; Passed: August 2007

BA in Psychology with Communication minor – University of Arkansas (2006)
First-Ranked Senior Scholar (Valedictorian-equivalent)
Summa Cum Laude
Four-Years Honors Scholar of the Honors College
Honors Thesis: Just Personality?: The Five-Factor Model of Personality & Reactions to Injustice
Chair:  David Schroeder, PhD; Passed:  April 2006

Noted Awards
Awards

Early Career Psychologist Scholarship Award—National Register (March 2014)

Heilbrun Award for Outstanding Published Research, Emory University, 2010—awarded for Personality subtypes of suicidal adults & An empirically based prototype diagnostic system for the DSM-V and ICD-11

Knopf Award for Outstanding Research Presentation, Emory University, 2008—awarded for Attachment, personality, and posttraumatic stress symptoms in a traumatized urban population.

Studies in Sexuality Graduate Essay Contest, First Place Award, Emory University, 2009—awarded for Toward an ethical and sophisticated study of sexuality. 

First-Ranked Senior Scholar, University of Arkansas, 2006, for having highest grade-point average in Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences

Harold D. Hantz Award, University of Arkansas, 2006, for being "the most outstanding Four-Year Honors Scholar graduate of Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences"

E. P. Trapp Award, University of Arkansas, 2006, for being "the most outstanding student in psychology"

Marie Wilson Howells Scholar, University of Arkansas, 2006, for "outstanding achievement in study and research in psychology"

Phi Beta Kappa, 2006 – present

Fellowships

George W. Woodruff Fellowship, Emory University, 2006-2011, top 5-year fellowship award for graduate study
Honors College Fellowship, University of Arkansas, 2002-2006
Governor’s Distinguished Scholar, University of Arkansas, 2004-2006

Media Appearances

Podcasts
YouTube Presentations
Let’s Get to Work San Francisco (Nov 2015), interviewed by local CBS News for a blog about local, interesting jobs Bay Area residents hold.

Al Jazeera America (Nov 2013), represented the VA and its efforts to provide outreach and competent clinical care to LGBT veterans.

Emory Department of Psychology Short Film (2008), helped create a video to publicize the research and clinical activities at Emory University in efforts to gain support and funding. I was interviewed because of my research and personal background as a first-generation college student.

Publications

Books

Ortigo, K. M. (2021). Beyond the narrow life: A guide for psychedelic integration and existential exploration. Synergetic Press.

Cloitre, M. Cohen, L. R., Ortigo, K. M., Jackson, C., & Koenen, K. (2020). Treating survivors of childhood abuse and interpersonal trauma: STAIR Narrative Therapy. Guilford Press.

Peer-reviewed Journals

Stauffer, C. S., Anderson, B. T., Ortigo, K. M., & Wooley, J. (2021). Psilocybin-Assisted Group Therapy and Attachment: Observed Reduction in Attachment Anxiety and Influences of Attachment Insecurity on the Psilocybin Experience. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 4(2), 526-532.

Jain, S., Ortigo, K. M., Gimeno, J., Baldor, D. A., Weiss, B. J., & Cloitre, M. (2020). A randomized controlled trial of Brief Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) for veterans in primary care. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 33(4), 401-409.

Ruzek, J. I., Wilk, J., Simon, E., Marceau, L., Trachtenberg, F. L., Magnavita, A. M., Coleman, J. L., Ortigo, K. M., ...& Rosen, R. C. (in press). A randomized controlled trial of a web-based intervention to disseminate clinical practice guidelines for PTSD: The PTSD Clinicians Exchange. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 33(2), 190-196.

Clarke-Walper, K., Penix, E. A., Trachtenberg, F., Simon, E., Coleman, J., Magnavita, A., Ortigo, K. M., ...& Wilk, J. E. (2020). Efficacy of a web-based tool in reducing burnout among behavioral health clinicians: Results from the PTSD Clinicians Exchange. Psychiatric Research & Clinical Practice, 2(1), 3-9.

Coleman, J. L., Marceau, L., Zincavage, R., Magnavita, A. M., Ambrosoli, J., Shi, L., Simon, E., Ortigo, K. M., ...& Rosen, R. C. (2020). Understanding how clinicians use a new web-based tool for disseminating evidence-based practices for the treatment of PTSD: The PTSD Clinicians Exchange. Military Medicine, 185(Supplement 1), 286-295.

Penix, E. A., Clarke-Walper, K. M., Trachtenberg, F. L., Magnavita, A. M., Simon, E., Ortigo, K. M., ... & Wilk, J. E. (2020). Risk of secondary traumatic stress in treating traumatized military populations: Results from the PTSD Clinicians Exchange. Military Medicine, 185(9-10), e1728-e1735.

Armstrong, C. M., Ortigo, K. M., Avery-Leaf, S., & Hoyt, T. (2019). Cultural considerations in using mobile health in clinical care with military and veteran populations. Psychological Services, 16(2), 276-280.

Kauth, M. R., Shipherd, J. C., Barrera, T. L., Ortigo, K. M., & Jones, K. R. (2016). Trainees’ perceptions of the Veterans Health Administration interprofessional psychology fellowships in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 10, 361-368.

Ortigo, K. M., Westen, D., DeFife, J., & Bradley, B. (2013). Attachment, social cognition, and posttraumatic stress symptoms in a traumatized, urban population: Evidence for the mediating role of object relations. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 26, 361–368.

Gapen, M., Cross, D., Ortigo, K. M., Graham, A., Johnson, E., Evces, M., Ressler, K. J., & Bradley, B. (2011). Perceived neighborhood disorder, community cohesion, and PTSD symptoms among low-income African Americans in an urban health setting. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 81, 31-37.

Ortigo, K. M., Bradley, B., & Westen, D. (2009). Personality subtypes of suicidal adults. The Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 197, 687-694.

Ortigo, K. M. (2007). “I’m a stranger here myself:” Forced individuation in Alien Resurrection. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 17, para 1-67.

Invited Book Chapters

Ortigo, K. M., Bauer, A., & Cloitre, M. (2020). Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) Narrative Therapy: Making meaning while learning skills. In M. Tull (Ed.), Emotion in posttraumatic stress disorder: Etiology, assessment, neurobiology, and treatment (pp. 513-544). Elsevier.

McCaslin, S., Ortigo, K. M., Simon, E., & Ruzek, J. (2018). Understanding and treating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Veterans. In N. Roberts (Ed.), Military and Veteran Mental Health (pp. 225-243). Springer.

Ortigo, K. M., & Weiss, B. (2016). Silence harms: Professional training issues in the clinical assessment of sexuality and gender. Invited book chapter in V. Brabender & J. Mihura (Eds.), Handbook of gender, sex, & psychological assessment (pp. 605-626). Routledge.

Ortigo, K. M., Westen, D., & Bradley, B. (2010). An empirically based prototype diagnostic system for the DSM-V and ICD-11. In T. Millon, R. F. Krueger, & E. Simonsen (Eds.), Contemporary directions in psychopathology: Scientific foundations of the DSM-V and ICD-11 (pp. 374-390). Guilford Press.

Westen, D., Gabbard, G., & Ortigo, K. M. (2008). Psychoanalytic approaches to personality. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin, Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd Edition) (pp. 61-113). Guilford Press.

Encyclopedia Entries

Ortigo, K. M., & Blagov, P. (2017). Avoidant Personality Disorder and gender. In K. L. Nadal (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of psychology and gender (pp. 117-120). SAGE.

Ortigo, K. M., & Blagov, P. (2017). Dependent Personality Disorder and gender. In K. L. Nadal (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of psychology and gender (pp. 428-431). SAGE.

Blagov, P., & Ortigo, K. M. (2017). Schizoid Personality Disorder and gender. In K. L. Nadal (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of psychology and gender (pp. 1442-1444). SAGE. 

Treatment Manuals

​Cloitre, M., Ortigo, K. M., & Gupta, C. (2018). Skills Training in Affective & Interpersonal Regulation for Primary Care (STAIR-PC) - Version 1.6. VA manual. 

Cloitre, M., Kulkarni, M., Ortigo, K. M., Jackson, C., Weiss, B., & Gupta, C. (2018). Skills Training in Affective & Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) Essentials (Version 1.2). Unpublished VA manual.

Cloitre, M., Kulkarni, M., Ortigo, K. M., Jackson, C., Weiss, B., & Gupta, C. (2018). Skills Training in Affective & Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) Group Essentials (Version 1.3.3). Unpublished VA manual.

Websites, Apps, Online Trainings, & Other Technology Products

Ortigo, K. M., Cloitre, M., Jackson, C., Weiss, B., & Schmidt, J. (2020). webSTAIR: Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation [Online website]. Retrieved from https://www.webSTAIR.org

Owen, J., Ramsey, K. M., Ortigo, K. M., Jaworski, B. K., Taylor, K., Steinmetz, S., & Cloitre, M. (2021). STAIR Coach (Version 2.0, Android). [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://myvaapps.com.

Wolfe, J., Shipherd, J., Kauth, M., & Ortigo, K. M. [Final authorship order TBD].  (2018). At ease: Working with  LGBT Veterans. [Online web-based training course]. Retrieved from https://www.tms.va.gov/. 

Vigil Dombeck, M. J., Hoffman, J. E., Ramsey, K. M., Jaworski, B. K., Ortigo, K. M., Weiss, B., & Cloitre, M. (2017). STAIR Coach (Version 1.0). [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://myvaapps.com.

Owen, J., Walser, R., Bantum, E., Ortigo, K. M., Ramsey, K. M., Jaworski, B. K., & Hoffman, J. (2016). Mindfulness Coach (Version 2.0, Android). [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://myvaapps.com.

Ortigo, K. M., & Glynn, S. (2016). Couples therapy with LGBT Veterans. [Online web-based training course]. Retrieved from https://www.tms.va.gov/.

Ortigo, K. M., Simon, E., Regala, S., Coleman, J., Marceau, L., Wilkinson, A., Ruzek, J., Rosen, R., & Wilks, J. (2016). PTSD Clinicians Exchange. [Online website]. Retrieved from http://www.PTSDExchange.com.

Owen, J., Ortigo, K. M., McCaslin, S., Ramsey, K. M., Jaworski, B. K., & Hoffman, J. [Final authorship order TBD]. (2016, in development). PTSD Family Coach (Version 2.0, iOS & Android). [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://myvaapps.com.

Blog Posts

Ortigo, K. M., & Feduccia, A. (2020, March). How to find the best psychedelic integration therapist for you [Blog post]. Psychedelic.Support. Retrieved from https://psychedelic.support/resources/how-to-find-the-best-psychedelic-integration-therapist-for-you/

Ortigo, K. M. (2015, June). How faith and religion affect the LGBT community’s mental health [Blog post]. Anxiety.org. Retrieved from https://www.anxiety.org/lgbt-religion-faith-anxiety.