Suzanne Davino, Ph.D.
Dr. Davino is a licensed psychologist in NY and CT, with PSYPACT certification enabling her to provide virtual therapy in all participating states. She is a senior clinician with particular expertise in treating young adults and helping their parents to support them. Prior to creating a private practice, she was Senior Director of Young Adult Services at Cognitive and Behavioral Consultants (CBC), where, with assistance from Dr. Alec Miller and other colleagues, she created the SAGE program for young adults and their parents. Dr. Suzanne Davino also worked at Four Winds Hospital, where she served as Director of Partial Hospitalization Programs for over a decade.
Training and certifications
Early experience
Dr. Davino developed an affinity for psychiatric care as an undergraduate working in a variety of capacities at Four Winds Hospital in Cross River, NY, and she learned about sleep research and sleep/wake disorders while serving as the Assistant Laboratory Supervisor of the Institute for Chronobiology at New York Presbyterian-Westchester Division.
Doctoral program
Dr. Davino’s training in clinical psychology took place at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where a scientist-practitioner model for clinical treatment was emphasized. She aquired a strong foundation in behavioral principles, experience in neuropsychology, and a background in the psychology of health promotion. Dr. Davino’s masters project was on remediation for the cognitive consequences of sleep disorders, and her dissertation focused on improving compliance with healthy habits.
Pre-doctoral internship
Dr. Davino spent her internship year at the Syracuse, NY, VA Medical Center, where she gained experience treating patients with combat trauma and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Her interests in health promotion led her to run evidence-based treatment groups to treat insomnia and to promote smoking cessation.
Four Winds Hospital
Dr. Davino returned to Four Winds Hospital for post-doctoral training and was subsequently offered employment. She served as Program Director for the Child Partial Hospital Program from 2003-2006, then directed the larger Adult Partial Hospital Program from 2006 to 2009. In 2009, she was tasked with unifying the Child, Adolescent and Adult Partial Hospital Programs under one Program Director and one treatment methodology. Dr. Davino created three age-appropriate intensive DBT programs and eventually included a fourth, a summer DBT track for young adults. The three program schedules were aligned and staff were trained to provide care for all age groups, allowing for more depth in the system. As part of her role, Dr Davino provided direct patient care as well as training and supervision for predoctoral students and staff members. Dr. Davino also consulted on redesigning the physical environment so that the unified PHP could be housed in one building suited to the needs of three populations. Finally, she served as a DBT consultant to the larger hospital and created educational materials about DBT that were used on the hospital’s website.
Cognitive & Behavioral Consultants of Westchester and Manhattan (CBC)
Dr. Davino met Drs. Alec Miller and Lata McGinn while all three were engaged in co-founding a local professional society. She accepted an invited to join their team at CBC as a part time independent consultant in January 2013 while she was still directing the Partial Hospital Programs at Four Winds. In 2017, Dr. Davino left Four Winds to serve as CBC's Senior Director of Young Adult Services until 2022. At CBC, Dr. Davino developed and directed the SAGE program, an intensive young adult DBT program with enhancements for executive functioning skills and health promotion, for and with Dr. Alec Miller. She also provided individual therapy, supervision for postdoctoral trainees, training for therapists, and consultation in CBT and DBT modalities. She was particularly engaged in working with parents of young adults via a DBT-based parent skills group and individual consultation. While at CBC, Dr. Davino also served on the Trauma team for seven years and became certified in Prolonged Exposure Therapy for trauma.
White Cedar Cognitive and Behavioral Health and additional training
Dr. Davino founded White Cedar Cognitive and Behavioral Health in Dec 2022. As a private practitioner, she continues to participate in DBT and CBT teams and is delighted to have more time to pursue additional training. She received training in SPACE and SPACE-FTL protocols for parents to support anxious children and young adults, as well as advanced training in Exposure and Response Prevention, CBT for Insomnia, and Cognitive Processing Therapy for trauma. Finally, Dr. Davino is responding to present-day mental health needs around climate change by becoming more informed and involved in Climate Psychology.