Debra Lynn Kaplan is a clinician working on the Safe Mothers, Safe Children Project. Prior to joining the McSilver Institute, she worked with children and families within the child welfare system who experienced complex trauma using Child-Parent Psychotherapy. She previously established an OMH Article 31 Licensed Mental Health Clinic with the Association to Benefit Children co-located in an East Harlem public school providing mental health services for children ages 7 to 15, from elementary to middle school. She received additional clinical training at a school-based mental health program through New York Presbyterian Hospital in Pediatric Psychiatry.
Dr. Kaplan has held various research positions prior to her clinical experiences. She held a two-year post-doctoral research associate position in the Law/Psychology Program in the Psychology Department at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she completed coursework in the College of Law. Next, she joined the Program for Prevention Research in the Psychology Department at Arizona State University as project director for the Family Bereavement Project Follow-up, a six-year post-clinical intervention look at children ages 14 to 22 and their families who lost a parent to death. She then was the Clinical Director for the Center for the Promotion of Mental Health in Juvenile Justice in the Child Psychiatry Division at the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University.
Dr. Kaplan has also been an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hofstra University and at SUNY College at Old Westbury. At SUNY College at Old Westbury, she established a semester-long internship for students to learn about issues related to sex education, health, and mental health. Currently, she holds an Adjunct position at Fordham University in the Psychology Department.
Dr. Kaplan developed her research and clinical interest in childhood trauma as a doctoral student as a Fellow in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training Program in Law, Child Abuse and Neglect. Her dissertation on “Young Maltreated Children’s Perceptions of their Placement Experiences” and her subsequent research and clinical positions reflect this interest. She looks forward to continuing to develop this interest in her position at the McSilver Institute.
Dr. Kaplan received her BA in psychology with honors from the University of Southern California. She received her doctorate in educational psychology with an emphasis in special education from the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She received her MSW with a minor in law from Columbia University School of Social Work.