Dr. Joanna Hurley received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY. During her clinical training and beyond, Dr. Hurley has worked with clients with a variety of presenting concerns in phases of early development, childhood, adolescence, as well as adulthood. She has had the great benefit of varied exposure to many aspects of trauma work in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Dr. Hurley embraces what she has learned with individuals of all ages and applies a nuanced understanding of the full array of the individual’s life history and family environment, culture and background, and developmental abilities.
In the therapeutic relationship, Dr. Hurley believes it is essential to locate where the patient is—developmentally, emotionally, and intellectually—to begin to understand their perspective and experiences. As such, authenticity, sensitivity, and curiosity are crucial aspects of her work. Influenced by interpersonal approaches, Dr. Hurley views therapy as a give and take between two people with shared goals. A mutual and collaborative approach encourages both therapist and patient to actively contribute in the exploration of the self, relational patterns, defense mechanisms, and unconscious processes. She focuses on building rapport and trust to help patients achieve insight, foster relationships, and to change once maladaptive coping skills into adaptive ones. Similarly, empathic understanding, careful listening, and a flexible approach allows her to attend to the uniqueness of the client’s experience, presentation, and goals for treatment, without judgment or assumptions.
Dr. Hurley completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, CT. As a Yale Child Study Center psychology fellow in the Children and Trauma track, she gained expertise in general clinical child psychology with a specialization in early intervention for traumatic stress. In collaboration with law enforcement, child welfare, medical and social service providers, she provided acute response and assessment, and early, brief, preventative mental health treatment to children who experienced and witnessed violence or potentially traumatic events in their neighborhoods, schools, or homes. Dr. Hurley was trained in and gained expertise in Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI), a brief intervention for trauma for families in the peritraumatic phase of trauma, and additional training and expertise in providing longer-term trauma treatment using Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). Experiencing a traumatic event changes the way we think, feel, and act, and often leads us to develop feelings of loss of control and helplessness. Gaining a better understanding of how our mind and body react when dealing with traumatic stress and learning coping strategies are first steps to regaining control in our lives.
To date, Dr. Hurley has experience providing evidence-based treatments to children, adolescents, families, young adults, and adults including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Parent Management Training (PMT), psychodynamic therapy, each intervention tailored to the client, working with individuals ranging from ages 3–60 years old. Above all else, Dr. Hurley strives to be an advocate for culturally appropriate psychological care, holding the belief that individuals—especially youth—are deeply impacted by their sociocultural contexts.
Dr. Hurley is a member of the APA (American Psychological Association) and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). Her clinical and research interests include parent-child relationships, disorganized caregiving/attachment, and mourning and traumatic grief in the context of traumatic stress interventions.