BIO: Dr. Ritschel has lived all over the east coast of the US and spent most of her formative years in Atlanta, GA. When not in the office, Dr. Ritschel enjoys hot yoga, pickleball, running, and spending time with her husband and two young daughters. She is an avid college sports fan.

 

TRAINING: Dr. Ritschel completed her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and French at the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!). She spent a year studying French Literature in Lyon, France and received an advanced degree from the Université de Lyon. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kansas, where she studied the role of positive psychology (mindfulness and hope) in psychological disorders and healing. Dr. Ritschel completed her internship at Duke University Medical Center, and she completed postdoctoral fellowships at Duke and Emory University School of Medicine. She is a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, where she works closely with the UNC TEACCH Autism program to adapt DBT for autistic adolescents and adults. Dr. Ritschel has published numerous papers and book chapters and has presented her work at national and international conferences. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards from the UNC Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry.

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EXPERTISE: Dr. Ritschel is a co-owner of the TAP Clinic, the director of the adolescent DBT program, and the director of TAP's continuing education program. She is a nationally recognized expert in DBT and has particular expertise in DBT with adolescents as well as in the combined DBT + Prolonged Exposure protocol (DBT-PE) for individuals with significant emotion regulation difficulties and PTSD. Along with her colleagues at TAP, she developed our Behavioral Parent Training program for high-risk youth. She treats individuals with mood disturbance (including major depression and bipolar disorder), anxiety and stress, traumatic experiences, suicidality and self-injury, borderline personality disorder, and behavioral impulsivity. Dr. Ritschel has received expert-level training in CBT, Behavioral Activation (BA), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).

 

Over the last 10 years, Dr. Ritschel has worked closely with the experts at TEACCH to adapt DBT skills for neurodivergent individuals. As a result of this collaboration, she has been fortunate to receive expert training and consultation in autism, including developing a better understanding of how existing evidence-based therapies have (or have not!) been effectively adapted to accommodate a range of learning and information processing styles. As an extension of this mid-career deep dive, Dr. Ritschel works with neurodivergent adolescents and adults who either:

(1) would like help with one or more of the emotional or behavioral difficulties described above using an evidence based approach whenever possible but that is delivered in a way that best matches the neurodivergent person's learning style and needs; or

(2) are interested in learning more about autism and how to think about themselves in a neurodiversity-affirming way.

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EVIDENCE-BASED THERAPIES OFFERED: DBT, CBT, Behavioral Activation (BA), Trauma Therapies, Behavioral parent training

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POPULATIONS SERVED: 

Dr. Ritschel works with youth ages 12+ and adults. She also conducts parenting and family work as part of our BPT program. 

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