Education: PhD, LMFT-S

Industry Expertise: marriage and family therapy

As a native to south Louisiana, Dr. Theresa Thomas stayed close to home and pursued a BA in psychology and a minor in French from the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM). Her master’s degree is in industrial/organizational psychology from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. She holds a PhD in marriage and family therapy from ULM and is a licensed marriage and family therapist in Louisiana and Texas. She is also an approved supervisor with AAMFT. After graduating with her PhD in 2005, she went to work for a private prison health care company, and her first assignment was as the mental health director for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. For someone without an ounce of training in corrections but years of training in systems theory, she went to work developing mental health programs in prisons around the country. She gave a decade of her life to this career and made her mark in establishing programs for severely mentally ill prisoners. During those years, she also kept a private practice in New Orleans, and in 2017 she took a full-time faculty position in MFT teaching in face-to-face and online master’s and PhD programs.

Her current research interest revolves around the pivotal moments many have experienced during the pandemic when they packed up their desks and started working from home. She has interest in the “Great Resignation,” and how people have experienced this unique time at home with family or alone. When the world paused, many experienced an awakening or a major transition, and she wants to hear more stories of these moments. Thomas and her husband now call St. Thomas their home, and they are loving the re-acclimation to island life.

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