Cheryl Best, PhD

Cheryl Best, PhD, is a psychologist in the Mood Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute. Dr. Best specializes in evidence-based assessment and treatment of youth from early childhood through young adulthood who are struggling with trauma, suicidality and self-injury, depression, anxiety, and behavioral concerns. She has extensive training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Dr. Best has received comprehensive training toward certification in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), the gold-standard psychological treatment for youth PTSD and trauma. She is certified through the UC Davis model in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based family intervention for behavioral problems in preschool-aged children. She has also received extensive training in the PCIT International model.

Dr. Best is passionate about providing high-quality psychological services to high-risk, diagnostically complex youth and their families. She is committed to reducing barriers to quality mental health care through prevention services, family and community interventions, and public education initiatives that are culturally sensitive and focused on the particular needs of the individual and/or family system.

• Post-doctoral Fellow in Child Clinical Psychology, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA
• Pre-doctoral Psychology Intern in Child Clinical Psychology, CAARE (Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource and Evaluation) Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
• Practicum Student, U.S. Veterans Affairs, Boston, MA
• Practicum Student, CapitalCare Developmental Pediatrics, Latham, NY
• Practicum Student, Rensselaer County Mental Health, Troy, NY
• Mental Health Specialist, McLean Hospital OCD Institute for Children, Belmont, MA

• PhD, Clinical Psychology, State University of New York at Albany
• MA, Clinical Psychology, State University of New York at Albany
• BA, Psychology, Harvard University