Auran Piatigorsky, PhD, LP, CMPC
As a licensed clinical sport psychologist in the states of California (License PSY22148) and Colorado (License 0006644), I provide mental health and performance enhancement services to athletes, coaches, teams, sports medicine, and others. I am a registered psychological service provider for the USA Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Also, as a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley (Cal), I teach and provide supervision to graduate students.
I attended the University of Colorado, Boulder for my undergraduate education, earning a BA in English, Psychology, and Sociology. Earlier, I attended the Sidwell Friends High School in Washington, D.C. During college and beyond, I my lifestyle emphasized my passion for extreme sports.
After college, I led rugged wilderness expeditions in harsh conditions. I had to manage my team’s mental health and physical performance while under pressure and prolonged stress.
My interests dovetailed towards psychology. I earned my MA and PhD in clinical psychology at Cal. I then completed a fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). I conducted research in developmental psychopathology at numerous institutions, including the National Institute of Mental Health. Thus, my current practice in psychology is based in science.
During my training and beyond, I sought out clinical work in a wide array of settings. I eventually settled as a faculty clinician and researcher at the UCSF Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Clinic, which serves people with complex psychological problems that impair their life performance, .
Now, as an independent practitioner, I use an adaptation of DBT — Dialectical Sports Skills — that has been tailored to the unique stressors and needs of high performance athletes.
