handbook of evidence-based inpatient mental health programs for children and adolescents

Jarrod M. Leffler, Ph.D., ABPP, is an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Chair of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Leffler is involved in program development and implementation and clinical activities in outpatient, day-treatment, and inpatient settings at Virginia Treatment Center (VTCC) for Children and Children’s Hospital of Richmond. He leads the inpatient Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program at VTCC. Before joining VCU, Dr. Leffler served as the primary psychologist on the 18-bed child and adolescent inpatient psychiatric unit at Mayo Clinic that provides a family-focused care model. During his 10 years at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Leffler was the co-director of the pediatric mood clinic. He also developed and directed the Child and Adolescent Integrated Mood Program (CAIMP), a two-week family-based Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) for youth with mood disorders, and the Pediatric Transition Program (PTP), a traditional intensive outpatient program (IOP) program for youth with comorbid psychopathology. In addition, Dr. Leffler has provided inpatient psychiatry care to youth at Boston Children’s Hospital. He provides clinical supervision to psychology and psychiatry fellows as well as staff members in inpatient, day-treatment, outpatient, and pediatric settings. Dr. Leffler has published on treatment models for youth and caregivers, He has also published on training staff on implementing EBTs. He served as the lead editor for two special issues focused on acute, intensive, and residential treatment services in the Journal of Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Dr. Leffler is the co-editor of the Handbook of Evidence-Based Day Treatment Programs for Children and Adolescents (Springer). With Drs. Alysha Thompson and Aaron Vaugh, he created the Acute, Residential and Intensive Services Special Interest Group of the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology of the American Psychological Association and is the past-Co-Chair. He served two terms as the President of the American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Dr. Leffler received the 2024 Distinguished Career Award for Practice and Training from the American Psychological Association’s Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

Alysha D. Thompson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Clinical Director and attending psychologist on the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a 41-bed inpatient psychiatric unit for children and adolescents ages 4 to 17. She has also provided inpatient psychiatric care to children and adolescents at Bradley Hospital / Brown University, where she was an attending psychologist on the Adolescent Inpatient Unit and clinical assistant professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Thompson provides clinical supervision to psychology practicum students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows as well as oversees a team of psychologists, master’s level mental health therapists, and board certified behavior analysts who provide treatment to youth on the inpatient unit. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Thompson has published clinical research on treatment models for youth in inpatient care, including adaptation and implementation of empirically based treatment in the inpatient psychiatry setting and use of behavior modification and dialectical behavior therapy strategies to prevent restraints and assaults on an inpatient unit. She served as a co-editor for two special issues focused on acute, intensive, and residential treatment services in the Journal of Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Dr. Thompson is also actively involved in policy and advocacy work, including advocacy at the state level for funding to make partial hospital and intensive outpatient programs for youth a Medicaid funded benefit in Washington State. With Drs. Jarrod Leffler and Aaron Vaughn, she created the Acute, Residential and Intensive Services Special Interest Group of the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology of the American Psychological Association, where she currently serves as Chair. She also received the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology’s 2022 award for Promoting Evidenced-Based Mental Health Services and has received numerous teaching awards for her training of psychology residents.

Shannon W. Simmons, M.D., MPH, is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington and the Medical Director of Inpatient and Acute Mental Health Services as well as attending psychiatrist on the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a 41-bed inpatient psychiatric unit for children and adolescents ages 4 to 17. She helps oversee the educational experience of child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, psychiatry residents, and medical students and serves as Associate Training Director of Emergency Psychiatry for the University of Washington child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship training program. In addition to her clinical, administrative, and educational roles, Dr. Simmons is a recent past president of the Washington State Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and an assembly delegate in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She has published in peer-reviewed journals on various aspects of inpatient care, including interdisciplinary education, the inpatient unit within broader systems of care, and interventions for restraint reduction.