About Katrina (Katie) Davino, Ph.D.
My Path to Becoming a Psychologist
I grew up in Northeast Ohio, where my parents were small business owners, and I fully expected to follow in their footsteps. I majored in business and accounting until my second year of college, when I began volunteering on a crisis hotline.
People called in real distress. They were overwhelmed by anxiety, struggling with depression, and carrying the weight of experiences they hadn't been able to put down. Being present with someone in that kind of pain, and watching that presence matter, was unlike anything I had experienced before. I felt privileged to be there with callers and to see the profound difference that connection and compassion could make for someone who felt utterly alone.
I became deeply curious about how minds work, how people get stuck in patterns that cause them suffering, and what it takes to help someone heal and grow. The supervisor of our volunteer team was a psychotherapist, and watching what he was able to do with his clients over months and years inspired me to pursue graduate school in psychology.
Send Me A Message
Education and Training
I began my graduate training at the University of South Carolina, Columbia in 1994, drawn to their joint degree in Clinical and Community Psychology. That dual focus gave me deep training in psychotherapy for mental and emotional disorders and a broader perspective on how psychologists can contribute to community wellbeing by building resilience in individuals and communities.
After five years at USC, I completed a pre-doctoral internship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, earning my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2000. I then spent two more years in post-doctoral training at a Community Mental Health Center in Illinois. When I had the opportunity to move to Atlanta (and return to the milder winters I had enjoyed in South Carolina), I took it without hesitation. I have enjoyed calling Atlanta home and working as a licensed psychologist here since 2002.
How I work with clients
At the heart of my practice is a simple but important conviction that you are a whole, complex person, not a diagnosis that calls for a textbook response. My job is to work collaboratively with you to create a treatment that reflects your unique history, strengths, and goals. We start by building a relationship in which you feel safe enough to reflect on your experiences and express your emotions. From there, we work to understand where old patterns came from and what change is possible going forward.
Some of the Approaches I Use
I have training and experience in a range of evidence-based approaches and use them fluidly depending on what each person needs:
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) involves working with the thought patterns and behavioral cycles that maintain anxiety, depression, and other difficulties
Psychodynamic/Attachment oriented therapy emphasizes understanding how earlier experiences continue to shape present-day patterns, often in ways that aren't immediately visible
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and other mindfulness-based approaches focus on building psychological flexibility, a more grounded, less reactive relationship with your own thoughts and emotions, and actions that are guided by your core values
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a skills-based approach especially effective for emotional dysregulation and self-destructive patterns
Trauma specific evidence-based approaches for processing past experiences and building a sense of safety
I use these and other approaches as a toolkit, selecting and integrating what fits your needs and goals, always in collaboration with you.
What Clients Tend to Experience Working with Me
Over time, people in therapy with me generally come to understand themselves more clearly. They develop new skills, build more confidence, and start pursuing things they'd previously felt unable to go after.
Ultimately, this can open the door to building a life that reflects your actual values and priorities, rather than one constrained by symptoms and old patterns that have never been properly addressed. Things can get better. I have seen it many times, and I believe it’s possible for you.
Community and Professional Involvement
Staying connected to the broader Atlanta mental health community has always mattered to me. I've served as a volunteer with the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Response Team. I've also been active in the Georgia Psychological Association, including serving as Chair of the GPA Committee on the Psychology of Women and Girls and as Representative for the Diversity Directorate on the GPA Board of Directors.
I spent several years as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, supervising psychiatric residents as they learned outpatient psychotherapy. I was honored to receive Emory Psychiatry's Outstanding Clinical Supervisor Award in 2013.
I have formed some deep personal and professional relationships with colleagues during my time in private practice here in Atlanta. And when I’m working with a client who needs assistance from a psychiatrist or another professional with a particular specialty, I’m glad to use the network of connections I have developed to assist them.
Ongoing Learning and Personal Practice
I have a genuine love for learning. Since beginning my private practice, I have continued to pursue formal and informal educational experiences because staying current with the evolving field of psychotherapy makes me a better therapist. I participate in regular peer consultation and work to practice the same self-care skills I teach my clients. I believe that the therapist's own wellbeing matters both for its own sake and because it directly supports the quality of care I bring to every session.
In-Person Therapy in Atlanta and Online Therapy Throughout Georgia
My office for in-person sessions is located in a private, comfortable setting in Atlanta near the Clairmont Exit of I-85. I also offer telehealth sessions for clients anywhere in Georgia. I find that online work can provide the same quality of collaborative, evidence-based care, and that it’s more convenient and accessible for some people.
Let's Talk
I offer a free 15-minute consultation. It’s important to feel comfortable with your therapist. Let’s find out if we’re a good fit.
Specialties
Anxiety
Therapy
Do you lie awake at night, worrying about things you can’t control? Have you felt on edge, irritable and panicky at times?
Depression Therapy
Do you feel overwhelmingly sad, empty or alone? Do you struggle to get out of bed in the morning? Have you started to feel like you are just going through the motions?
Trauma
Therapy
Are you struggling with the lasting impact of abuse or neglect that you experienced during childhood? You may feel unworthy of love, unable to trust others and hopeless about your future.
PTSD
Treatment
Do you find it difficult to fall asleep at night or do you have nightmares? Does it feel like your traumatic experience keeps replaying in your mind?
Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment
Do you feel emotional pain so intensely that it can be overwhelming? Are you sensitive to the hurtful things that other people do or say?
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Are you seeking a structured, evidence-based form of therapy to build a life worth living by balancing acceptance of who you are with the motivation to change? DBT might be a fit.