Rate My Professor Adrienne Allen

Adrienne Allen, PsyD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. She currently serves as Director of Young Adult Services at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, targeting clients aged 18-25, and as Co-Director of the West Haven Mental Health Clinic, a collaborative effort between the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Department of Children and Families, and the Yale Department of Psychiatry. Allen earned her Psy.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Hartford's Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology in 2015. She holds an M.A. in clinical psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University (2011) and a B.A. in psychology from Franklin and Marshall College (2008). Her training includes a predoctoral fellowship through Yale University's Doctoral Internship in Clinical & Community Psychology program in 2015 and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Living in Hartford, specializing in schizophrenia rehabilitation and inpatient services for individuals with psychotic disorders and underlying trauma, completed in 2016. She was mentored by Tom McMahon, PhD, and now supervises predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows in Yale's Clinical & Community Psychology training program.

Allen's clinical expertise centers on trauma-informed care for young adults with serious mental illness, including schizophrenia spectrum disorders and other severe, persistent conditions. She delivers trauma-sensitive behavioral interventions to clients in residential and transitional housing programs throughout the New Haven area. In collaboration with Michelle Comas, PhD, she developed a comprehensive six-stage trauma assessment process for the West Haven Clinic, encompassing record review, life timeline creation, interviews with clients and informants, behavioral observations, and tailored residential planning recommendations. This methodology reframes maladaptive behaviors as survival adaptations to complex trauma, fostering improved client-staff relationships and more humane care. The process has been presented at professional conferences. Since 2022, Allen and Comas have pioneered a co-leadership model at the clinic—the first in its statewide system—sharing responsibilities for operations, workplace dynamics, and program development following the retirement of the longtime director. An advocate for the mental health recovery movement, she is an active member of the American Psychological Association and provides clinical intervention trainings to staff, trainees, and residential teams. Her public health interests encompass mental health broadly.