User:Jdbphd/Jeff Ball, PhD

Dr. Jeff Ball is a native of Los Angeles. He graduated from UCLA Phi Beta Kappa where he published research in the field of Autism and Developmental Disorders. He received a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology at UCLA, first studying autism, then specializing in adult psychopathology. His dissertation involved studying Subjective Experiences in Close Relationships, focusing on the issue of projection in marital relationships. Dr. Ball trained clinically in a psychoanalytic model, and in graduate and post-doctoral work became experienced in working with a range of psychopathology, particularly personality disorders and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorders.

After completion of his post-doctoral training, Dr. Ball developed a part time psychoanalytic practice (which continues to this day). He also served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California where he taught Undergraduate Introductory Psychology, Personality Theory, and Abnormal Psychology, as well as Graduate level courses in Assessment, Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis. He joined UCLA as a Lecturer in Psychology, where he continues to this day teaching Abnormal Psychology. He also has instructed graduate level courses included Psychopathology, Assessment Clinic, and Psychoanalysis, as well as Law and Ethics in Psychology.

In 1990, Dr. Ball became a senior therapist in a joint Psychology/Psychiatry clinical research project studying family therapy and medication management in the treatment of Bipolar disorder. The study was conducted by Dr. Michael Goldstein of UCLA, and Dr. David Miklowitz of the University of Colorado, Boulder. The protocols of these studies have formed a foundation in Dr. Ball’s treatment of bipolar patients, and he remains in close contact with Dr. Miklowitz, who is a clinical consultant to PCH Treatment Center.

In 1991, Dr. Ball accepted a joint academic position with the UCLA School of Medicine and the West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital. At the VA, he worked in geriatrics as the chief psychologist at a Nursing Home setting, and trained interns in psychotherapy. For several years, he taught the Intern Psychotherapy Seminar, focusing on psychoanalytic models of psychotherapy.

In June of 2005, Dr. Ball took a position at Bridges to Recovery, a residential center specializing in treatment of psychological disorders. He began as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and after a few months he was appointed Clinical Director and subsequently Executive Director. In this capacity, after hiring an entirely new clinical staff, he had created a successful model of outpatient residential treatment. Dr. Ball left Bridges to Recovery in March 2009, and in September of 2009 he became the Executive and Clinical Director of Psychological Care and Healing (PCH) Treatment Center.

Dr. Ball’s contacts in the academic and treatment community have afforded him the opportunity to attract the top talent in the field. He also has a reputation in the community for being extremely ethical as well as highly skilled both as a clinician and a consultant and supervisor.

Dr. Ball is the co-founder and Executive and Clinical Director of Psychological Care and Healing Treatment Center (PCH Treatment Center) in West Los Angeles.