Dr. Debra Alvis, PhD, MMT, C-IAYT, is a licensed psychologist and wellness consultant whose compassion fatigue trainings have helped healthcare professionals around the world, including the medical staff at various flagship state university health centers. She developed the Mind/Body Program at the University of Georgia, which provided clinician training on the integration of contemplative approaches into psychotherapy. As a professor at the University of Georgia, she supervised doctoral students and co-led a research team investigating applied mindfulness practices.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Alvis has also designed individual and group programs to promote stress hardiness, work-life balance, and resiliency for professionals working in environments with high demands on their empathy. Her work in a range of medical and mental health settings provides her with a keen understanding of these demands and the potential impact on professionals across disciplines.
Dr. Alvis lectures, leads retreats around the world, and maintains a private practice of psychotherapy. Her trainings have helped thousands of clinicians to integrate the richness of contemplative practices and somatic psychotherapies with Polyvagal informed work for greater clinical effectiveness. She is also certified as a mindfulness meditation teacher and as a yoga therapist.