About Us
Alita Kathryn Taylor, MA, LMFT
Alita Kathryn Taylor has been a mental health practitioner since 1992, receiving a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy from Pepperdine University in 1995, licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California (LMFT#43665, 2006) and in Washington (LMFT#60785809, 2017).
She held a part-time practice while working in outpatient and hospital settings, the bulk being in emergency psychiatric consulting. She is a clinical member of the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA), the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), the Washington Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (WAMFT), the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), the Family Systems Therapists of the Northwest (FSTNW,) and the Association of Family Therapists of Northern California (AFTNC).
Currently, she is in the International Certificate in Collaborative-Dialogic Practices (ICCP) program through Taos and Houston-Galveston Institutes, and she holds a certificate to train and supervise couple and family dialogical practices recognized under Finnish law (valtioneuvoston asetus terveydenhuollon ammattihenkilöistä annetun asetuksen muuttamisesta 11/20/2010) trained by Jaakko Seikkula, PhD, through Dialogic Partners and the University of Jyväskylä (2018.)
Through her work in private practice and in the hospital emergency room, Alita experienced first-hand the shortcomings of delivering care in the U.S. In search of solutions, Alita found Open Dialogue in 2016 and applied to be in the first international trainer's training offered in Finland. Learning about how to treat, train, and supervise dialogically, answered an inner call for her.
She most enjoys working collaboratively, as part of a team, to allow clients, families, and social networks the space required to welcome everyone’s voice in a way that facilitates the kind of consensual meaning-making often emerging from sharing experiences during difficult times. She also concentrates on co-creating dialogical spaces for organizations and for psychiatrists in family therapy. She envisions Open Dialogue as applied interpersonal neurobiology. The treatment approach she provides for clients, families, and their social networks, which she teaches to other practitioners, supports our healthy polyvagal nerve processes in a way that transforms our own lives, and those lives of everyone around us.
Fletcher Taylor, MD, MFA
I think that the elements informing our identity and well-being include one’s family, community, and culture. Another important element is the opportunity to share of the stories within us. As a psychiatrist, I am honored to receive your stories and have recently begun to share my own—on the page—through creative writing.
I received my medical training at the University of Oklahoma, and my psychiatric training at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western University, Ohio. I received my MFA in creative writing at Pacific University.
I have also sought out formal training in the Open Dialogue approach, cognitive therapies, behavioral therapies, analytic theory, transactional analysis, and family systems theory. I divide my time between clinical practice, teaching, research, and creative writing.
I work with individuals, couples, families, groups, and often see people together with Alita Taylor, my wife, a skilled marriage and family therapist.
My published research includes new treatments for anxiety/depression, learning disabilities, trauma-related issues, and sleep physiology (see CV)
Learn more about my creative writing at http://fletchtaylor.com/
Taylor F. Martin P. Thompson C, Williams J, Gross C, Peskind E, Raskind M. Prazosin effects on objective sleep measures and clinical symptoms in civilian trauma PTSD: A placebo-controlled study. Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Mar 15; 63(6): 629–632.
Raskind MA, Peskind ER, Hoff DJ, Hart KL, Holmes HA, Warren D, Shofer J, O'Connell J, Taylor F, Gross C, Rohde K, McFall ME. A parallel group placebo controlled study of prazosin for trauma nightmares and sleep disturbance in combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Apr 15;61(8):928-34.
Fletcher B. Taylor, Kathleen Lowe, Charles Thompson, Murray A. Raskind, Miles M. McFall, Elaine R. Peskind, Evan D. Kanter. Daytime prazosin reduces emotional responsiveness to trauma specific cues in civilian trauma PTSD. Biol Psychiatry. 2006 Apr 1; 59(7):577-81
Price C, Taylor F. A retrospective chart review of the effects of modafinil on depression: As monotherapy and as adjunctive therapy. Depress Anxiety. 2005;21(4):149-53
Taylor F. A Case of Reemergent Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Arrrested by Propranolol Intervention: Does a stitch in time save nine? In: Corales, TA (Ed.) Focus on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 2004 (pp. 39-5122) Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Taylor F. Tiagabine for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: An openlabel prospective case series of seven women. J Clinical Psychiatry 2003;64(12):1421-1425
Taylor F., Allison, N. Effects of the alpha-1 blocker Prazosin on ADHD symptoms and cognition: A pilot study exploring the role of the noradrenergic system in ADHD. Presented at the American Psychiatric Association Meeting in San Francisco, May, 2003
Taylor F, Prather M. The efficacy of nefazadone augmentation for treatment resistant major depression: A case series. Depression and Anxiety. 2003 18:83-88
Taylor F, Cahill L. Propranolol for emergent Posttraumatic Stress Disorder following an event of retraumatization: A case study. J Traumatic Stress. 2002 Oct;15(5):433-437
Taylor F, Raskind MA. The alpha-1 adrenergic antagonist prazosin improves sleep and nightmares in civilian trauma Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. J Clin Psychopharmacol 2002 Feb;22(1):82-5.
Taylor F, Russo, J. Comparing guanfacine and dextroamphetamine for adult Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Psychopharmacol 2001; 21(2):223-228
Taylor F, Russo J. Efficacy of modafinil compared to dextroamphetamine for the treatment of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder in adults. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacology 2000;10(4):311-320
Taylor F, Raskind MA. The alpha-1 adrenergic antagonist prazosin improves sleep and nightmares in civilian trauma Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Poster presentation International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies San Antonio, TX, November 17, 2000
Taylor F. “New Applications for Old Drugs”. Presented to the Pierce County Medical Society, Tacoma, WA, Oct 25th 2000
Taylor F, Russo J: Efficacy of Modafinil Compared to Dextroamphetamine for the Treatment of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults. Presented at the Annual American Psychiatric Association Meeting in Chicago, 2000
Taylor F, Russo, J: Comparing Guanfacine and Dextroamphetamine for Adult Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder: Presented at the Annual American Psychiatric Association Meeting in Chicago, 2000.
“OCD and ADHD in the Same Person: A Compatible Paradox”, Presented for the Institute for the Advancement of Human Behavior in Seattle, WA, December 6-7, 1997
“Treatments for ADHD: Fact and Fiction”, Conference on Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorders, Seattle, WA, January 19, 1996
“The 10 Percent of the Patients That Take 30 Percent of Your Time”, Presented at the CME Conference for Depression and Anxiety Disorders St Joseph’s Hospital, Tacoma, 1993
Feighner J, Taylor F. et al: Depression: Diagnosis and Treatment. CME Conference, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Tacoma November 12, 1992
Taylor F. Consultation-Liaison Handbook for the Wade Park Veterans Hospital. Cleveland University Hospitals, Cleveland OH, 1990
Taylor F: Emergency Psychiatry Handbook, Case Western University, Cleveland, OH 1988
Saadah H, Taylor F: Sustained Headache Syndrome associated with tender occipital nerve zones. Headache 1987; 27:201-205
Saadah H, Taylor F: Update on the Treatment of Headaches, Presented at the Annual Headache Symposium in Chicago 1986
Murphy T, Walter F, Taylor F, et al. Endogenous anticoagulation during extracorporeal perfusion: Generation of a heparin-like inhibitor. American Journal of Physiology 1980; 239:742-750
Murphy T, Taylor F, et al. Compliment-dependent activation of canine platelets by endotoxin and collagen: In vitro studies. Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology 1980; 16:57-71
Affiliations
University of Washington
Pepperdine University
Houston-Galveston Institute ICCP
Instituto Cognitive Science Rome
Dialogic Partners
Lenora Edwards
CAMFT
AAMFT
AFTA
FSTNW
Shared Crossing Project
Pacific University
Quality of Life Care
Other Media
Published Article:
Love is in the Air
Podcasts:
Open Dialogue, a Better Way