Dr. Christine Thayer graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University in North Carolina with a bachelor of arts degree (B.A.), majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology. During her undergraduate years, she worked as a crisis intervention counselor for the Winston-Salem, NC community. She served as an on-call counselor for a 24-hour community crisis line for individuals affected by all forms of physical and sexual abuse and served as a legal advocate through the University Judicial System.
Dr. Thayer received a Master’s Degree (M.A.) from Southern Methodist University and the Outstanding Research by a Graduate Student Award for her thesis examining conflict in romantic relationships. She also worked at the Dallas County Jail providing mental health services to a forensic mentally ill population of inmates. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Saint Louis University, where her dissertation examined adjustment to child sexual abuse and she researched the psychological impact of domestic violence and injury.
Dr. Thayer’s predoctoral internship was at the Alexandria Mental Health Center, where she provided adult, child, and family therapeutic services and diagnostic evaluations for the citizens of Alexandria, VA. Dr. Thayer completed a post-doctoral fellowship at an inpatient residential facility in Las Cruces, NM. Dr. Thayer provided acute and long-term therapy services to adults and adolescents and served as the unit psychologist for an adolescent girls’ inpatient unit.
Upon returning to the area, Dr. Thayer worked at the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) in southern MD. She provided child, adolescent and family therapy services, as well as diagnostic evaluations. She has been working in private practice for twenty years. Currently, she enjoys working with all ranges of clients and her clinical interests include depressive and anxiety disorders, as well as the treatment of trauma.