Adult, adolescent, and child psychiatrist

Dr. Waits has been a Master ART Practitioner since 2014 and an ART Trainer since 2023.  While serving in military leadership positions in the Washington, D.C. area, she secured Basic ART training for more than 100 mental health providers and has been a major advocate for the use of ART throughout the Department of Defense.  Dr. Waits is a 27-year Army veteran with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and extensive teaching experience in various military psychiatry training programs.  She earned her undergrad degree from the United States Military Academy and her medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  She is board certified in General Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Lifestyle Medicine, and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University.  Her current clinical practice is with Talkiatry, where she provides telehealth services to patients in New York, Virginia, and Colorado.

Dr. Waits is truly passionate about training mental health providers in ART, not only because she has seen first-hand the rapid, life-changing impact it can have on clients, but because she has seen it transform the lives of therapists as well.  Unlike most other trauma-focused therapies, ART spares the therapist many of the painful emotional details and graphic imagery that contribute to vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue.  ART doesn’t require any preparation and allows therapists to use their innate clinical skills within the framework of an easy-to-learn treatment protocol.  Therapists using ART become more aware of their own body sensations, more adept at using relaxation techniques, and better able to manage their own stress.  Furthermore, they get to experience true joy as they help clients resolve deep-seated trauma on their own using imaginative and meaningful solutions.  Training mental health providers in ART and watching them increase their confidence in treating trauma has been one of the biggest privileges of Dr. Waits’ career.