Courtney Simpson, PhD
Behavioral psychologist strengthening regulation capacity.
Slightly obsessed with how Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) might help more people regulate emotion, tolerate discomfort, and act effectively.
What I do
I’m on a forever mission to teach the regulation skills behavioral science offers. I’m writing, speaking, and bringing these skills to the broader public – teaching outside the clinical settings that I spent twenty years learning inside of.
This work seems timely as change is arriving faster than most people have the capacity for. I keep hearing conversations about the benefits of learning how to navigate paradox, tolerate discomfort, and embrace ambiguity. New solutions are being offered for all of them.
And, I keep wondering why we’re not turning toward behavioral science. It offers tools that can be learned, developed, and refined, backed by decades of research.
I’m now working to reach the systems that often reinforce the patterns holding change in place. This includes behavioral therapy for individuals and relationships, and executive coaching grounded in Regulated Leadership, my theory of leadership development. I’m currently completing an MBA at Seattle University, focused on executive leadership, to better understand the organizational pressures leaders work under.
Most recently, I spent three years as Director of the Eating Disorder Center at Evidence Based Treatment Centers of Seattle, where I designed and launched an intensive program for emotionally dysregulated clients – the complex cases most programs won’t take. I led a multidisciplinary team making decisions under pressure, partnered with executive leadership on business decisions, and translated behavioral science into systems clinicians could actually run.
Before that, I spent five years at the UC San Diego Health Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research – as a predoctoral intern, postdoctoral fellow, clinical psychologist, and program manager. UCSD is where I did the hard work of learning how to put behavioral science into practice – through supervision, repetition, and a lot of practice.
- PhD, Counseling PsychologyVirginia Commonwealth University
- MBA, Executive LeadershipSeattle University – in progress
- Licensed Clinical PsychologistWashington State
- DBT-Linehan Board Certified Clinician™Demonstrated adherence to DBT
How I got here
It made me confront what I wanted to avoid, which was the point, and I resented it. I was adamantly opposed to the skills group – zero interest in doing therapy with strangers, and I figured my friends served the same function.
When my own protective behaviors increased in frequency to the point where my health was at risk, I went to treatment. I really disliked DBT. The group was boring, the handouts were confusing, and mindfulness just made me fall asleep.
This changed at rock bottom. I finally realized what I was doing wasn't working and felt motivated to learn how to live differently.
That was almost 20 years ago. I've been practicing, teaching, and iterating on DBT since. It's how I learned to regulate a highly sensitive nervous system to effectively show up in my life, relationships, and career. It's how I built my life worth living. And it's how I help individuals, relationships, and leaders thrive.
My philosophy
Relationships are essential to meaningful living and honest leading. Regulation capacity is what sustains them – at home and at work. And the more accurately we understand how we function, the more capacity we have to communicate, collaborate, and create.
I'm endlessly curious, perfectly flawed, and forever thinking about how we can do better at being human – intentionally, nonjudgmentally, and scientifically.
What I value
Curiosity is how I want to show up for others. Authenticity is how I want to show up for myself.
Together, they create belonging.