Avivah McPherson, Psy.D.
Perinatal Psychologist Consultant
About
Dr. Avivah McPherson, is a dual-licensed clinical psychologist specializing in Infant and Early childhood mental health care within pediatric settings. Clinically, Dr. McPherson has a passion for working within pediatric communities, integrated health systems, and enhancing the development and implementation of culturally informed practices within systems that impact culturally diverse children and families within underserved communities. In her current role as a Perinatal Psychologist and Program Development consultant with Northside Hospital, she is piloting the development of an integrated Infant-Mental Health clinical program across 5 hospitals.
Dr. McPherson's passion is to empower clinics, schools and mental health service providers to implement culturally responsive practices, while reducing the impact of early childhood experiences of adversities (ACEs) on health outcomes. Motivated by the opportunity to reduce disparities in healthcare, Dr. McPherson has worked collaboratively with the former Surgeon General of California, to improve health outcomes by screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and providing early intervention to reduce the impact of toxic stress and save lives. She has served as a contributing research partner with the ACE Aware Initiative of California and participated in the development and piloting of the PEARLS screening tool utilized nationally to identify and screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences. She has served as a psychological consultant for media content creation with Sesame Street, PBS Kids, and Netflix’s Little Monsters.
Dr. McPherson values assisting schools and organizations in fortifying mental health care and reducing the impact of toxic stress by training both medical and behavioral health providers on the tenets of trauma informed culturally responsive care. Her most salient professional role is providing thought-provoking and sensory engaging professional training to individuals and groups of community-based professionals that may have limited access to traditional higher education resources.
Dr. Avivah McPherson, is a dual-licensed clinical psychologist specializing in Infant and Early childhood mental health care within pediatric settings. Clinically, Dr. McPherson has a passion for working within pediatric communities, integrated health systems, and enhancing the development and implementation of culturally informed practices within systems that impact culturally diverse children and families within underserved communities. In her current role as a Perinatal Psychologist and Program Development consultant with Northside Hospital, she is piloting the development of an integrated Infant-Mental Health clinical program across 5 hospitals.
Dr. McPherson's passion is to empower clinics, schools and mental health service providers to implement culturally responsive practices, while reducing the impact of early childhood experiences of adversities (ACEs) on health outcomes. Motivated by the opportunity to reduce disparities in healthcare, Dr. McPherson has worked collaboratively with the former Surgeon General of California, to improve health outcomes by screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and providing early intervention to reduce the impact of toxic stress and save lives. She has served as a contributing research partner with the ACE Aware Initiative of California and participated in the development and piloting of the PEARLS screening tool utilized nationally to identify and screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences. She has served as a psychological consultant for media content creation with Sesame Street, PBS Kids, and Netflix’s Little Monsters.
Dr. McPherson values assisting schools and organizations in fortifying mental health care and reducing the impact of toxic stress by training both medical and behavioral health providers on the tenets of trauma informed culturally responsive care. Her most salient professional role is providing thought-provoking and sensory engaging professional training to individuals and groups of community-based professionals that may have limited access to traditional higher education resources.