Dr. Marisa Boylan is a licensed clinical psychologist with over ten years of experience in clinical, residential, and school settings, working with children, adolescents, adults, and families. Her expertise lies in the treatment of trauma, ADHD, depression, mood and anxiety disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders, and behavioral, spectrum, and developmental difficulties. Dr. Boylan has specialized training in parent-child interaction therapy and attachment therapy, in addition to diagnostic assessments for socio-emotional, developmental, and spectrum disorders. Dr. Boylan’s expertise includes in-home and school interventions to facilitate more severe situations, and she has extensive experience pertaining to assessment and diagnosis, issues of identity and risk-taking among children and adolescents, and sociocultural considerations of parenting behaviors. She utilizes evidence-based treatments such as family therapy, parent-child interaction therapy, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, DBT, ABA, play therapy, parent coaching, motivational interviewing, and acceptance and mindfulness-based therapies to effectively work with children, adolescents, and adults.

Education and Experience

  • University of San Diego, Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
  • Clinical Psychologist, San Diego Center for Children, North County Academy
  • Clinical Psychologist, Home Start, San Diego
  • Counselor, Fred Finch Youth Center
  • Clinician, Rady Children’s Outpatient Psychiatry
  • Clinician, UCSD Center for Autism Research
  • Researcher, Gifford Outpatient Psychiatric Hospital

Dr. Boylan’s Specializations:

  • Preschool and Elementary School Children
  • Adolescents
  • College Students
  • Adults
  • Families

Dr. Boylan’s Expertise:

  • ADHD
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Attachment Disorders
  • Adoption
  • Child Development
  • Depression
  • Developmental, Spectrum, Diagnostic, and Psycho-educational Assessments
  • Eating Disorders and Body Image
  • Giftedness
  • Learning Difficulties
  • Loss
  • LGBT
  • Mood Disorders
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Parent Guidance
  • Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
  • School and Home Observations and Interventions
  • School Consultations and IEP/504 Meetings
  • Spectrum Difficulties
  • Substance Use and Abuse
  • Tics and Trichotillomania
  • Trauma

Dr. Boylan’s treatment approach includes:

  • ABA
  • Attachment Therapy
  • Behavioral Therapy
  • Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
  • Exposure Therapy
  • Family Systems Therapy
  • Group Therapy
  • Mindfulness
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Developmental, spectrum, psycho-educational, and diagnostic assessments
  • Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
  • Parent Guidance
  • Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

With children and teenagers, Dr. Boylan utilizes play therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, behavioral therapy, ABA, mindfulness, family therapy, parent-child interaction therapy, and parent guidance with immediate tools for effective change. Dr. Boylan collaborates very closely with parents from a family systems and developmental perspective. Dr. Boylan also collaborates closely with schools, pediatricians, and psychiatrists to enhance a team approach.

With college students and adults, Dr. Boylan utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, and trauma focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for immediate change and coping with life-stressors, and mindfulness and motivational interviewing to enhance awareness, change past patterns, increase strengths and self-esteem, and engage in healthier/positive relationships and choices.

Utilizing a holistic approach, Dr. Boylan’s work will focus on providing you with the specific tools to overcome challenges, facilitate coping skills, adapt to life stressors, and gain insight and effective strategies to promote positive and healthy change. Our goal is to facilitate your abilities to empower yourself, your child, and your family via profound, permanent changes to help you thrive.