Dr. Jennifer M. Batista-Matías is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Chicago DBT Institute®. She earned her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU) in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Dr. Batista-Matías completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Psychological Services Center from the Psychology Internship Consortium at PHSU, where she offered individual therapy to patients with a variety diagnoses (depression, anxiety, ADHD, among others) and individual, group therapy and phone coaching for adults and adolescents as part of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Program rotation at the Psychological Services Center. She also offered services such as psychometric, psychodiagnostic and personality assessments.

In her clinical work, her emphasis has been to provide the best services possible to patients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and comorbid diagnoses, such as depression, anxiety and other personality disorders. Dr. Batista-Matías has worked in a multitude of settings, including a psychoeducation and orientation center for domestic violence offenders, a general hospital setting providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Behavioral Medicine, an in-patient psychiatric setting, private practice settings and a community mental health center. After completing her pre-doctoral internship, and while working on her dissertation, Dr. Batista-Matías collaborated for four years as a teaching assistant for the DBT course offered at PHSU for and trained students that were interested in becoming a part of the Psychological Services Center’s DBT Program.

During her time training in DBT, Dr. Batista-Matías attended a Family Connections Training Program offered by the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality, under the mentoring of Alan Fruzzetti, Ph.D. and Perry Hoffman, Ph.D. She also attended Good Psychiatric Management for Borderline Personality Disorders offered by McLean Borderline Personality Disorder Training Institute, under the mentoring of Lois Choi-Kain, M.D.; John Gunderson, M.D.; Teresa Carreno, M.D.; and Radu Saveanu, M.D. Dr. Batista-Matías has completed foundational training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) through Behavioral Tech. Dr. Batista-Matias has also received training in DBT-C under the mentoring of Francheska Perepletchikova, PhD.

As a post-doctoral fellow at CDBTI, Dr. Batista-Matías has been working with adults, young adults, teens, parents, and children. She has also led and co-led Adult Skills Groups and Multifamily High School and Middle School Groups.

In her free time, Dr. Batista-Matías enjoys reading, watching horror movies, anime, TV series, playing video games with her partner and friends, and spending quality time with her loved ones, including her 2 cats and dog. She also enjoys going on walks, going to new places, and buying plushies! She likes to feel in tune with her patients through the use of active listening, respect, empathy and humor. She believes patience, determination, discipline, consistency, self-love, and willingness are key to live a life worth living.