About Dr. Lanktree

Cheryl Lanktree, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice in Santa Monica, California, and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Southern California. From 1998 to 2009, she was Director of the Miller Children’s Abuse and Violence Intervention Center (MCAVIC), a multidisciplinary outpatient center in Long Beach, California. From 2005-2009, she was also Principal Investigator for the federally-funded MCAVIC-USC Child and Adolescent Trauma Program, a Treatment and Service Adaptation Center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). Before then, she was the Clinical Director at Stuart House, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Lanktree has held additional academic appointments at the University of California-Los Angeles, California State University, Dominguez Hills, California State University, Fullerton, and the University of Manitoba. She served as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Children’s Alliance, the Board of Directors for the California Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers, and the Steering Committee for the NCTSN. In 2001, she was honored with the Child Protection Award, from the Long Beach Area Child Abuse & Domestic Violence Prevention  Council.

Dr. Lanktree has published a number of papers on the assessment and treatment of child trauma. She has presented extensively in the United States, and has given lectures and workshops internationally. Dr. Lanktree and Dr. John Briere wrote two manuals for ITCT, and have a forthcoming book, Integrative Treatment for Complex Trauma in Adolescents and Young Adults (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications).

Dr. Lanktree graduated from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba with a PhD in Clinical Psychology. She interned in Clinical Psychology at Yale University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

NOTE: Although much of her research and writing has been on traumatized children and adolescents, Dr. Lanktree has consulted extensively to agencies and clinicians on adult victimization, and has committed a considerable portion of her 19 years of private practice to the treatment of adults with histories of childhood maltreatment or adult trauma. Her work with adults does not involve the structured aspects of ITCT, although she does apply some of its principles when indicated.

See a list of publications by Dr. Lanktree.