Eleanor Beale, PhD

Bio:

Born and raised in Massachusetts, I have moved throughout my life for my education and called home to Connecticut, New York, and Ohio before settling in Durham, North Carolina. Durham has been an incredible place to live, and I adore the sense of community ingrained in the city, not to mention all the sunshine. I especially appreciate the numerous opportunities for advocacy, as well as all the ways to meet new people with a range of backgrounds and identities. Outside of work, I love spending time outdoors, reading a book for hours, being around friends, watching giant thunderstorms, playing rummy with my partner, pretending I can train my two cats, and doing anything involving dry humor.

Training:

I have been drawn to psychology for most of my life, but took my time deciding on the right path for me. I completed my undergraduate education majoring in Psychology at Skidmore College. I then worked for five years as both a Resource Coordinator and Research Assistant within the Cardiac Psychiatry Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. In this role, I developed a passion for trying to improve mental health systems to better care for patients. I also gained experience working on an inpatient psychiatric unit, while growing my skills in both research and program development. I then pursued a PhD in Clinical Psychology at Case Western Reserve University, where I focused on the study of depression and suicidality. Through my graduate school experience, I fostered a love of clinical work and became particularly interested in the topic of ambivalence between living and dying experienced by suicidal individuals. In graduate school, I received training predominantly in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) across different settings including a college counseling center, a chronic pain outpatient program, a community hospital, and at the psychology clinic housed within our graduate program. For two years I helped run the in-house psychology clinic that served the Cleveland community and helped train other clinical psychology graduate students. I completed my pre-doctoral internship at the Durham VA Medical Center where I received further specialized training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). I was lucky enough to complete my postdoctoral training at the TAP Clinic within the Transdiagnostic and Exposure Therapy Fellowship where I gained expertise in both the Unified Protocol (UP) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). During fellowship, I expanded my clinical training to include working with both adolescents and individuals with neurodivergence, two areas of clinical work I now greatly enjoy and hope to continue specializing in.

Expertise:

As a clinician, I aim to build a nonjudgmental space and foster a sense of inclusivity. I combine structure with flexibility and enjoy the process of conceptualizing concerns that do not fit neatly into one diagnostic box. I am particularly skilled at adapting evidence-based treatment to the individual. I love working with my clients to combine my expertise as a therapist with their expertise as themselves. I have received expert-level training and supervision in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), the Unified Protocol (UP), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). I am trained in other clinical interventions as well (Behavioral Activation, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy). My expertise lies in the application of transdiagnostic treatments, or treatments that use related underlying treatment principles to treat a range of mental health concerns. I apply Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients change their beliefs about themselves or the world as a way to find meaning and fulfillment. I implement the Unified Protocol to guide clients through changing their experience of and relationship with emotions. This allows them to practice self-compassion and feel more empowered in their daily lives. I rely on Exposure and Response Prevention to help clients tackle their fears and re-learn how to use confidence to engage more with the parts of their life they enjoy. My approach may be a good fit for those who struggle with low mood, those who feel anxious much of the time, those who have difficulty experiencing or managing their emotions, and those who are looking to build resilience and confidence in who they are. As a sub-specialty, my expertise and approach may help individuals who have not had success in therapy elsewhere, who may feel overlooked by the mental health field, or who want a therapist who emphasizes the whole person.