Alysha Thompson, PHD

Alysha Thompson, PHD

Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit

On staff since February 2019

Children's Title: Clinical Director, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit

Academic Title: Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

  • Biography

    Alysha Thompson, PhD is the Clinical Director and attending psychologist on the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of Washington. Prior to joining the staff and faculty at Seattle Children’s/UW, she was a staff psychologist on the Adolescent Inpatient Unit at Bradley Hospital and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. She is an active participant in training future psychiatrists and psychologists and currently serves as Chair of the Acute, Intensive, and Residential Services Special Interest Group of Division 53 of the American Psychological Association, a national group of psychologists. Dr. Thompson has authored multiple publications regarding inpatient psychiatric treatment for youth and has forged collaborations with psychiatrists and psychologists working in inpatient psychiatry and acute care around the country. In addition, she is actively engaged in advocacy efforts regarding improvement the mental health care system for youth. She is passionate about providing quality services to youth experiencing severe mental health crises and has specific areas of expertise in working with youth with trauma histories and suicidality.

    Dr. Thompson completed her graduate education at Suffolk University in Boston in clinical psychology with an emphasis in child and adolescent clinical psychology. She completed residency in pediatric psychology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and went on to complete a fellowship in clinical psychology with an emphasis in trauma in children and adolescents at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute.

     

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  • Awards and Honors

    Award Name Award Description Awarded By Award Date
    SCCAP Practice Award 2022 SCCAP Award for Promoting Evidence-Based Mental Health Services for Children and Adolescents Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 2022 - 2022

  • Publications

    Manuscripts in Refereed Journals

    • Rubenson MP, Gurtovenko K, Simmons SW, Thompson AD
      Review: Patient Outcomes in Transdiagnostic Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Programs.
      37271333 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2023 May 31
    • Ramasamy RS, Thompson A, Simmons S
      Responding to Acute Mental Health Crises in Black Youth: Is It Safe to Call 911?
      35622301 Community mental health journal, 2023 Jan. : 59(1)1-8
    • Neuhaus E, Osuna A, Tagavi DM, Shah-Hosseini S, Simmons S, Gerdts J, Thompson AD
      Clinical Characteristics of Youth with Autism or Developmental Disability during Inpatient Psychiatric Admission.
      36362556 Journal of clinical medicine, 2022 Oct 27 : 11(21) PMCID:PMC9658441
    • Thompson, A.D., Leffler, J., & Vaughn, A.
      Acute, intensive, and residential services: Introduction to the second special issue.
      Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health , 2022 Oct.
    • Patriquin, M., Thompson, A.D., Walker Lowry, K., Leffler, J., & Reynolds, E.
      Inpatient Psychiatric Care for Children and Adolescents: Increasing the Integration of Service and Science
      Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health , 2022 Oct.
    • Simmons S, Noble C, Arquette K, Thompson AD
      Bridging the Gap: Impact of dedicated post-discharge services on readmission rates and emergency department visits for psychiatrically hospitalized youth.
      36075261 Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 2022 Sep 8 : 13591045221125634
    • Thompson AD, Berkman ER, Simmons SW, Porter KM, Kroon L, Goldman R, Ramasamy RS
      Ethical Considerations in Balancing Use of Seclusion and Restraint With Risk of COVID-19 Exposure: Recommendations for Youth Inpatient Psychiatry Units.
      35513190 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2022 May 2 : PMCID:PMC9057649
    • Calhoun, C.D., Nick, E.A., Gurtovenko, K., Vaughn, A.J., Simmons, S.W., Taylor, R., Twohy, E., Flannery, J., & Thompson, A.D.
      Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Care: Contemporary Practices and Introduction of the 5S Model
      Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health , 2022 - 2022
      https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23794925.2022.2034551
    • Leffler, J.M., Vaughn, A.J., & Thompson, A.D.
      Acute, Intensive, and Residential Services (AIRS) for Youth: Introduction to Special Issue
      Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health , 2021 - 2021
      https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23794925.2021.1996301
    • Thompson, A.D., Ramasamy, R., Simmons, S., Gurtovenko, K., Caufield, S., Sasser, T., Beauchamp, B., O'Brien, M.
      What Do We Do When Things Fall Apart? Rapid Creation of a Pilot Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit in Response to Increased Acuity on a Psychiatric Inpatient Unit for Children and Adolescents
      Evidence Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2021
    • Leffler JM, Esposito CL, Frazier EA, Patriquin MA, Reiman MK, Thompson AD, Waitz C
      Crisis Preparedness in Acute and Intensive Treatment Settings: Lessons Learned From a Year of COVID-19.
      34224838 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2021 Oct. : 60(10)1171-1175 PMCID:PMC8249041
      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8249041/
    • Thompson A, Simmons S, Wolff J
      No Where to Go: Providing Quality Services for Children With Extended Hospitalizations on Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Units.
      32976953 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2020 Sep 18
      https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32976953/
    • Simmons S, Thompson A
      Models of Interdisciplinary Education in the Inpatient Psychiatry Setting.
      32399834 Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry, 2020 May 12
    • Thompson E, Spirito A, Frazier E, Thompson A, Hunt J, Wolff J
      Suicidal thoughts and behavior (STB) and psychosis-risk symptoms among psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents.
      31948902 Schizophrenia research, 2020 April : 218240-246 PMCID:PMC7299764
    • Wolff, J., Frazier, E., Thompson, A.D., Weatherall, S., Mcnamana O'Brien, K., Hunt, J.
      Mind the Gap: Implementing Empirically Informed Psychosocial Treatment in Inpatient Psychiatric Settings
      Evidence Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2019
      https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23794925.2019.1685418
    • Wolff JC, Frazier EA, Weatherall SL, Thompson AD, Liu RT, Hunt JI
      Piloting of COPES: An Empirically Informed Psychosocial Intervention on an Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit.
      29648874 Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology, 2018 July : 28(6)409-414
    • Coyne, L.W. & Thompson, A.D.
      Maternal depression, locus of control, and emotion regulatory strategy as predictors of child internalizing problems.
      Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2011 April : 20873-883
    • LaBrie JW, Huchting KK, Lac A, Tawalbeh S, Thompson AD, Larimer ME
      Preventing risky drinking in first-year college women: further validation of a female-specific motivational-enhancement group intervention.
      19538915 Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs. Supplement, 2009 July : (16)77-85 PMCID:PMC2701102
    • LaBrie JW, Pedersen ER, Thompson AD, Earleywine M
      A brief decisional balance intervention increases motivation and behavior regarding condom use in high-risk heterosexual college men.
      17653840 Archives of sexual behavior, 2008 April : 37(2)330-9 PMCID:PMC4221275
    • LaBrie JW, Huchting K, Tawalbeh S, Pedersen ER, Thompson AD, Shelesky K, Larimer M, Neighbors C
      A randomized motivational enhancement prevention group reduces drinking and alcohol consequences in first-year college women.
      18298242 Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, 2008 March : 22(1)149-55 PMCID:PMC4221274
    • LaBrie JW, Thompson AD, Ferraiolo P, Garcia JA, Huchting K, Shelesky K
      The differential impact of relational health on alcohol consumption and consequences in first year college women.
      17913379 Addictive behaviors, 2008 Feb. : 33(2)266-78 PMCID:PMC2248555
    • LaBrie, J. W., Pedersen, E. R., Huchting, K., Thompson, A. D., & Hummer, J. F.
      Correcting misperceptions and reducing risky drinking through a student-designed posters
      Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 2007 Nov. : 517-16
    • LaBrie, J. W., Thompson, A. D., Huchting, K., Lac, A., & Buckley, K.
      A group Motivational Interviewing intervention reduces drinking and alcohol-related consequences in adjudicated college women.
      Addictive Behaviors, 2007 Jan. : 322549-2562

    Book Chapters

    • Thompson, A.D., Gurtovenko, K., Gallik, C., Parnes, M., Arora, K., & Ramasamy, R.S.
      Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization
      Handbook of Evidence Based Day Treatment Programs for Children and Adolescents, 2022

  • Presentations

    Presentation Title Event Location Date
    Helping or Harming?: Effectiveness and Iatrogenesis in Child/Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatry Units American Psychological Association Annual Convention Washington, DC Aug. 2023
    Advantages and pitfalls of EMR data for outcomes research in inpatient psychiatry. American Psychological Association Annual Convention Minneapolis, MN Aug. 2022
    Building remote bridges: Mental health care in the COVID 19 pandemic Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry virtual Oct. 2021
    What Can We Do When Things Fall Apart?” The Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit: Implementation and Initial Impact on Unit Safety Measures. Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry virtual Oct. 2020
    The COPES Program: Preliminary patient and staff Outcomes of a CBT intervention for psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Conference San Diego, CA Nov. 2017
    Evaluation of the COPES Program: An Empirically-Informed Psychosocial Intervention on an Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit. International Summit on Suicide Research Las Vegas, NV Nov. 2017
    Evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of the track system: An empirically informed intervention for adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry New York, NY Oct. 2016
    The role of social support and psychological flexibility in the transmission of depression from mother to child. Meeting of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science Minneapolis, MN June 2014
    A proposed model for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for parents of children with ASD Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Conference National Harbor, MD Nov. 2012
    Emotion regulation and socialization in racial-ethnic minority families The meeting of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science Washington, DC July 2012
    The role of maternal experiential avoidance in child internalizing behaviors and parent-child dysfunction in a preschool sample: Implications for family-based exposure treatments. Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Conference Toronto, Canada Nov. 2011
    Implications of Experiential Avoidance in Parenting: Child internalizing problems and maternal emotion regulatory strategy predict maternal stress. The meeting of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science Parma, Italy July 2011

Overview

Medical/Professional School

Suffolk University, Boston, MA

Clinical Interests

Treatment of severe psychiatric disorders in acute care settings, the impact of trauma and childhood adversity on mental health in children and adolescents, suicide and non-suicidal self-injury, brief interventions for mental health, cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy.