Highly sought after for her clinical expertise and down-to-earth approach to therapy, Dr. Joanna Rosen, PsyD, is a Connecticut and New York licensed clinical psychologist who is dedicated to the prevention, early identification, and clinical treatment of mental health challenges. For over 20 years, across a variety of professional roles and settings, she has worked to break down barriers and normalize open conversations about brain health.
Although it's not possible to stop all mental health conditions from developing, Dr. Rosen always has maintained curiosity about why, when faced with similar situations, some people are more negatively impacted than are others. Her curiosity drove much of her graduate school studies, and culminated in her focused look at information processing models of trauma. For her doctoral dissertation, she researched "Predictors of Chronic PTSD in Female Rape Survivors," and the results were compelling. Her research pointed to specific factors, in particular attribution of blame, that strongly influenced the course of PTSD in rape survivors. With this new-to-her knowledge, Dr. Rosen was compelled to explore other ways in which research could guide clinical decision-making with the ultimate goal to improve clinical outcome.
After receiving her doctoral degree, she continued to focus on exploring ways to improve outcome in persons identified as at-risk for mental health disorders. Her next stop was at the Yale School of Medicine's PRIME (Prevention through Risk Identification, Management, and Education) Research Clinic, where she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship. PRIME was (and remains) a groundbreaking research clinic dedicated to the early identification and treatment of individuals at a clinically high risk of developing a serious mental illness. After her fellowship ended, she returned to PRIME as Clinical Director and was appointed Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry with the Yale School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry.
When the 9/11 terrorist attacks hit Manhattan, Dr. Rosen took a temporary leave from PRIME in order to coordinate a large scale intervention program for northern New Jersey communities who were exposed to and severely impacted by the 9/11 attacks. HART (Healing and Recovery after Trauma), a grant-funded program through the Office of Prevention Services and Research at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-University Behavioral Health Care, was designed specifically to mitigate risk for long-term trauma symptoms in those communities directly impacted by 9/11. By providing community education and trauma-specific interventions, HART aimed to reduce risk for PTSD and prevent long-term mental health problems.
Dr. Rosen moved to Newtown, CT in 2004 and has served the Newtown and surrounding communities ever since, both through her private practice and Nuvance Health's Outpatient Psychiatry Department. As a psychologist specializing in trauma, she has worked with survivors and community members exposed to traumas that made international headlines (9/11, Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, Boston Marathon shooting) as well as those living through those private traumas (suicide, homicide, sexual assault, automobile fatalities) often hidden from public view.
Dr. Rosen interweaves brain-science into all of her work and is a firm believer that people seeking treatment for trauma deserve research-driven treatment protocols for PTSD. Of the approaches that meet this criteria Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), specifically EMDR intensive trauma therapy, are her preferred approaches if deemed clinically appropriate. As a certified EMDR provider, she also is a member of the Fairfield County Trauma Response Team (FCTRT), a passionate team of EMDR certified clinicians who provide pro-bono outreach, education, and treatment to first responders and frontline healthcare workers.
When she's not working, Dr. Rosen likes to play tennis, exercise, watch her kids play sports, read books on the intersection between neuroscience and mental health, and travel the world. She loves crisp apples, dried mango, raw brussel sprout salad, Ferris Acres Creamery's ice cream, (look it up!) and anything chocolate. Her favorite weekday evenings are those spent relaxing at home with her family and two dogs and watching shows that make her laugh out loud. The short-list of her favorites? The Office, Parks and Recreation, Arrested Development, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Professional Affiliations
