Dr. Mayra Reyes Ruiz is a postdoctoral fellow at CBC, where she conducts individual, family, and group therapy with children, adolescents, and adults with a range of clinical presentations. Mayra earned her Master’s Degree in School Psychology from the University of Connecticut and her Doctoral Degree in School Psychology on the bilingual track from St. John’s University. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from the University of Connecticut.
Mayra is intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). She has extensive training in an array of evidence-based treatments for anxiety, mood, and behavioral disorders. Mayra completed her APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship at Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital at University Miami Miller School of Medicine, where she conducted individual and group psychotherapy, as well as psychological assessments, with adolescents in outpatient and inpatient settings. Mayra conducted individual and group psychotherapy as part of a comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy team. She has experience providing psychotherapeutic services to adolescents and parents in Spanish.
Prior to her doctoral internship, Mayra completed an externship at New York Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center in the Outpatient Child and Adolescent Clinic. Mayra delivered evidence-based treatments to children, adolescents and their families in both English and Spanish for anxiety, mood disorders, ADHD, and behavioral presentations. She also completed additional externship training in the Partial Hospitalization Program at Bellevue-New York City Health and Hospitals, providing individual and group psychotherapy, including co-leading DBT-A informed skills groups for adolescents, and conducting psychoeducational evaluations aiding in appropriate school placements and accommodations following hospital discharge.
In addition to experience in clinical training settings, Mayra has received graduate and post-graduate school psychology training in general education and alternative special education school settings, where she was a member of teams that support students and socio-emotional needs. Mayra has worked for Connecticut and New York schools as a certified School Psychologist providing Individualized Education Program (IEP)-mandated individual and group counseling, developing and consulting on Behavioral Intervention Plans, and conducting psychoeducational evaluations in English and Spanish. Mayra has also served as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University teaching undergraduate Positive Psychology and Abnormal Psychology courses.
Mayra’s research interests encompass culturally responsive and relevant therapy practices, and effective interventions for anxiety and mood disorders. Her doctoral dissertation research focused on evaluating cultural and linguistic factors that affect performance on assessments used in evaluation of bilingual students for special education, specifically, Speech and Language Impairments. Mayra is a member of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).