Dr Emily Cooney is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in consultation, training, and research of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Currently, she is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago.

Until recently, when she returned to her home country New Zealand, Dr Cooney was assistant director of the DBT and DBT for Substance Use Disorder tracks for Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital’s Adult Intensive Outpatient Program.

Dr Cooney has worked in the United Kingdom, the United States and New Zealand. She also served as a research therapist on DBT trials with Marsha Linehan, the creator of DBT, at the University of Washington. She was the principal investigator on further trials in New Zealand.

Her research interests include treatment outcome evaluation, adaptations of DBT for adolescents and for violent behavior, family processes in treatment, and factors affecting therapist burnout and resilience. She is also an authority on suicidal behavior, substance use disorders and borderline personality disorder.