Phyllis Thompson

Background

About Phyllis Thompson

Phyllis Thompson, Ph.D, LCSW, is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) College of Social Work. She earned her doctorate degree in Social Work at the University of Utah in 2010 and her Master's degree in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Minnesota in 1997. In she earned her LCSW. She has taught in the Bachelor, Master, and Clinical Doctoral Social Work programs for 16 years. Dr. Thompson's leadership roles in academia have included serving as Chair of the: Graduate Trauma Treatment Certificate program, MSSW curriculum committee, University Graduate School's Appeals Committee, and 77 Doctoral Capstones. She has also served as Vice Chair for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and as Course Lead for four courses. Dr. Thompson was Director of the MSW program at Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU). During her time at OLLU, she created & implemented a national MSW online program and assisted with CSWE and SACs accreditation. She was also instrumental in helping to develop the new Direct Practice with Hispanic Children and Families concentration program. Her overarching goals as an educator includes stimulating intellectual, professional, and personal development of students and advocating for social justice. Dr. Thompson's clinical background is in the trauma field. Her clinical work began at Vanderbilt’s Department of Pediatrics where she served at Our Kids Center. Some of her responsibilities included triaging, conducting extended psychosocial evaluations and medicolegal health assessments for youth who experienced trauma, assessing suicidal ideation, and providing crisis interventions to stabilize families. She later opened a private practice where she expanded her clinical work to serve veterans and other adults with PTSD, older adults suffering with complicated grief and bereavement, couples and families with empirically supported treatment approaches. Strong verbal and written skills have also been critical in both her clinical and higher education careers. Evidence for her verbal skills are provided from student evaluations and feedback from local, regional, state, national, and international conferences. She has given court testimony as a fact and expert witness in the states of Minnesota, Tennessee, and Georgia. Evidence for her strong written skills include, curriculum design, grants, journal publications, service as a consulting editor, and the proposal and conceptualization of a national online social work program at OLLU