I had my first real love of psychology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, where I worked with older adults in research and clinical settings. I became fascinated by the many influences that weren’t captured by our highly specific neurological and neuropsychological tests. Folks came to us with all sorts of families structures, support systems (or lack of), personalities, and resources that impacted their response to disease. In graduate school, I focused my research on sharpening our understanding of how patients and families move through diagnosis and treatment of diseases in late life (mainly, dementia). On the clinical side, I became enamored with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; especially the focus on psychological flexibility and the many tools to help clients move in whichever direction they value. Above all, I was trained to think of myself as a consultant in the therapy room. My clients are the experts in their lives, and I get to learn about why they do what they do (and feel how they feel, think how they think). My job is to help put together the puzzle pieces that have good reason for being there in the first place.

Over the past several years, I’ve engaged in extensive training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for individuals and couples and am a Certified EFT Therapist with the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT). As I began this training, I started integrating attachment theory in my work: how we’re raised deeply impacts how we move through the world in our relationships. We learn early on what to do to get what we need. Not to say that our childhoods wholly determine what happens to us, but often we can find patterns in adulthood that trace back to important early relationships. I like to invite clients to try to figure out these patterns with me, and often “looking at” how we do relationships starts to feel differently than continuing to play something out that goes unexamined. Kind of like the difference between acting in a movie versus watching it on the screen and feeling, “Oh yeah! That makes sense why that happens”.

Coming full circle, I think EFT speaks to me because it is inherently flexible, non-judgmental, and person-centered. It brings everyone into the fold. It accounts for trauma and privilege. It also bridges the research-clinical gap beautifully: it’s theory driven, empirically supported, and humanistic. We don’t ignore or become solely focused on diagnoses and symptoms; but rather use them as a starting off point for starting to unpack what drives us and where we get stuck.

Training and Experience

I received my Ph.D. in clinical psychology and Aging & Development at Washington University in St. Louis. I trained at Stanford University (postdoctoral fellowship) and VA Palo Alto Health Care System (clinical internship). Previously, I worked as clinical faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine. I've worked in the mental health field in various settings over the past 15 years:

Selected clinical experience

• Certification in Emotionally Focused Individual and Couples Therapy through the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy

• Adjunct Faculty at The Wright Institute

• Stanford University Department of Psychiatry: Anxiety/Mood disorders; Couple's therapy; High functioning individuals

• VA Palo Alto Health Care System: Anxiety research and treatment; work with chronic medical conditions; caregiver/late-life psychotherapy

• St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute: Intensive outpatient treatment of OCD, social anxiety, phobias, and panic disorder

• St. Louis VA Health Care System: Psychotherapy and chronic health conditions; Cognitive assessment

• UCSF Memory and Aging Center: Clinical research and cognitive assessment

Professional affiliations

• International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy

• Northern California Community for Emotionally Focused Therapy

• International OCD Foundation

• Association for Contextual Behavioral Science

• Northern California Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Network

Research

In addition to my clinical practice, I have conducted research on medical decisions across the lifespan, particularly as it relates to diseases of aging (e.g., Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia). My publications have examined how families react to and cope with chronic diagnoses. I've also published articles and book chapters on anxiety in later-life and best practices for doctor-patient interactions during diagnostic disclosures.

Selected publications

Gooblar, J., & Beaudreau, Sherry A. (2018). Late-life anxiety. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology and Aging. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Carpenter, B. D., & Gooblar, J. (2018). Disclosing a dementia diagnosis: The complexities of telling and hearing. Handbook of Dementia. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Gooblar, J., Roe, C. M., Selsor, N. J., Gabel, M., & Morris, J. C. (2015). Attitudes of research participants and the general public regarding disclosure of Alzheimer disease research results. JAMA Neurology, 72(12), 1484-1490.

​Gooblar, J., & Carpenter, B. D. (2013). Print advertisements for Alzheimer’s disease drugs: Informational and transformational features. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 28(4), 355-362.