Marissa Tunis, Psy.D.

Dr. Marissa Tunis is a licensed psychologist with more than 15 years of experience working in private practice, student counseling, research clinics and community mental health. Dr. Tunis' training and experience has afforded her the opportunity to work with a variety of populations and age groups, from teens to seniors. Employing a client-centered, direct approach, Dr. Tunis delivers transformative psychotherapy and coaching with warmth, honesty and humor. Dr. Tunis specializes in working with people in high conflict, including: couples, business partners, siblings and parent-child dyads. Some of the complex issues that Dr. Tunis addresses in her work include: loss and bereavement, trauma related to sexual assault and harassment, addiction and co-occurring disorders, divorce, and transitioning to parenthood. Most Recently, as the Director of Family Services at Resolutions Teen Center – Santa Monica, Dr. Tunis provided intensive outpatient treatment to teens and their families. Through parent coaching and family therapy, she helped clients and families create a more stable family system in which greater harmony can be experienced by all family members. Prior to her work at Resolutions Teen Center, she was the Director of Support and Counseling at Upright Citizen’s Brigade –New York, counseling students and performers who were struggling with mood and anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, trauma, and interpersonal issues that present in creative communities. In this position, Dr. Tunis created and moderated panels on sexual assault, activism and social justice, and decreasing stigma in mental health. As the Project Director at the Center of Prevention and Evaluation (COPE) at New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, Dr. Tunis worked with teens and young adults who were at clinically high risk of developing psychosis. She assessed symptoms, monitored patients' functioning and provided support to caregivers. Dr. Tunis created and delivered interactive talks on Self-Care, How to Talk about Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment, and Stigma in Mental Health. Dr. Tunis was hired by The New York Times to speak on the above topics and to facilitate support groups for their employees. Dr. Tunis has worked in the domain of geriatric neuropsychiatric assessment as a neuropsychological tester on research studies out of University of California-Los Angeles and University of Southern California. Dr. Tunis utilized the skills she acquired as a neuropsychological tester to later complete full geriatric neuropsychological assessment batteries in private practice. As a psychotherapist, Dr. Tunis was trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Wright Institute-Los Angeles and additionally employs Interpersonal, Solution-Focused, Mindfulness Based, and Cognitive-Behavioral techniques to treatment. Dr. Tunis has been trained in attachment-focused Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which she utilizes to help individuals resolve trauma and overcome phobias. Dr. Tunis received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University and bachelor degrees in Psychology and Business Administration from the University of Florida. Dr. Tunis holds licenses as a Psychologist in New York (019494) and California (PSY 29669).