Our Team
Karen R. Gouze, PhD
Psychologist
Karen R. Gouze is a Psychologist with Lurie Children’s Center for Childhood Resilience, Director of Training in Psychology in Lurie Children’s Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Gouze has over 35 years of experience in school and community settings. She played an instrumental early role in the development of the school mental health programming that culminated in the establishment of the Center for Childhood Resilience. At CCR, Dr. Gouze helps direct the training of psychology graduate students, interns, and post-doctoral fellows. She also is a leader in developing research protocols and projects to guide the implementation and dissemination of CCR’s work, specifically in the areas of early childhood and after-school programming. As a clinician, she works towards increasing our understanding of the role that psycho-social stressors and developmental psychology play in promoting youth mental health and advocates for the culturally sensitive application of empirically supported treatments in mental health care. Her areas of research include understanding risk and protective factors related to healthy child development during the early years and the dissemination and implementation of prevention and intervention practices in community settings.
Dr. Gouze has been the recipient of many grants to fund research and service projects in the implementation of trauma informed care in early childhood settings, developmental psychopathology, and school mental health. She also is the author of a book for parents of children with sensory sensitivities, several book chapters on family therapy, and numerous journal publications in the areas of school mental health, developmental psychopathology, and family therapy.
Dr. Gouze received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Michigan, her PhD in Child Development from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, and completed an internship in clinical child psychology at Judge Baker Guidance Clinic, Harvard School of Medicine.