Episode 21: Gil Reyes, PhD

Gil Reyes, PhD is a clinical psychologist in Santa Barbara, California. At The National Child Traumatic Stress Network he is involved with the Terrorism and Disaster Center at the University of Missouri and the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress at UCLA, and is a longstanding member of the task force on the Core Curriculum in Childhood Trauma.

He was the lead editor of the four-volume Handbook of International Disaster Psychology (2006) and The Encyclopedia of Psychological Trauma (2008), and his areas of expertise include psychological trauma, and the psychosocial effects of disasters, terrorism, torture, and mass violence. Gil has provided psychosocial disaster support in several national and local disasters throughout the past decade, including the September 2001 response to the destruction of the World Trade Center, and has worked in a consulting capacity with the World Health Organization and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

He serves as the Disaster Relief Committee Chair for the American Psychological Association’s Division of Trauma Psychology, is the 2012 President of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Peace Psychology, and is the 2014 President-Elect of the Santa Barbara County Psychological Association. In all areas of life, Dr. Reyes emphasizes social support and attachments as the essential tools for resilient coping in the face of adversity.