Dr. Gustavo Perez is the Banner University Early Psychosis Intervention Center (EPICenter) Program Supervisor and a certified trauma specialist working with people experiencing serious mental illness. His work is grounded in a bio-psycho-social approach to mental health. Dr. Perez is a level-1 Internal Family Systems (IFS) provider. IFS is an evidence based model to support people recovering from complex psychological trauma. He leads the CBT- mindfulness series at the Banner University Whole Health Clinic and the serious mental illness seminar for psychology and psychiatry residents at EPICenter. Dr. Perez is a community educator for the Department of Psychiatry promoting awareness of early mental health intervention for youth and families. Furthermore he is working with community partners such as the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and the Humane Society to support integrated wellbeing for youth struggling with mental illness in our community
Prior to joining the Department, Dr. Perez was an adjunct faculty at the University of Arizona, College of Education and the senior psychologist at the Pima County Juvenile Detention Center. His advocacy work was recognized by the Arizona Chief Probation’s Officer Association with the 2016 Employee of the Year Award. He has been a board member for the Southern Arizona Psychological Association and the Safe Environment Review Board for the Tucson Catholic Diocese.
Early onset psychosis, complex trauma, serious mental illness, positive psychology, community mental health care
Smith R, Weihs KL, Alkozei A, Killgore WD, Lane RD. An embodied neuro-computational framework for organically integrating biopsychosocial processes: An application to the role of social support in health and disease. Psychosomatic Medicine 2019; 81(2), 125-145.