Clarissa Colley, LCSW

Clinical Biography

Clarissa Colley, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker in UT Health Austin Pediatric Psychiatry at Dell Children's, a clinical partnership between Dell Children's Medical Center and UT Health Austin. She is also a part of UT Health Austin’s Integrated Behavioral Health care team. She specializes in working collaboratively with children and adolescents and their families to provide biopsychosocial assessments, establish therapeutic goals, implement brief interventions to improve overall functioning, and coordinate with schools and community providers to address concerns related to mood disorders, adjustment difficulties, grief, loss, and trauma.

Clarissa Colley earned her bachelor’s degree in music with an emphasis in piano performance from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and her master’s degree in social work with a clinical concentration in children and families from The University of Texas at Arlington. There, completed a graduate internship in social work at the Women’s Center of Tarrant County, where she provided individual counseling to children and adults as well as phone-based crisis hotline support. She has additional training in the adult attachment interview protocol, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, grief and trauma intervention for children (individuals, family, and group), trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, and play therapy.

Clarissa Colley has participated in research to implement evidenced-based clinical interventions with youth presenting with behavioral and emotional difficulties in schools in the greater New Orleans area one year after Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, she contributed to a study evaluating a community-based grief and trauma intervention for children post-Katrina. She has also worked in clinical and residential treatment settings in both New Orleans and Austin. She is passionate about supporting the emotional and behavioral health needs of children and adolescents and their families following adverse events, such as natural disasters and pandemics. She also contributes to team-based telehealth consultation services through the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) initiatives and is a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

Clarissa Colley is a clinical social worker with UT Health Austin.