Professional Experience

Pre-Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Experience

Dr. Willoughby received doctoral-level training for treating childhood post-traumatic stress at The Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, and for treating pediatric anxiety, disruptive behaviors, and mood disorders from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Willoughby completed his pre-doctoral psychology internship at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where he received specialty training in pediatric health psychology and provided behavioral health consultation to inpatient and outpatient medical teams. Additionally, he completed his post-doctoral psychology fellowship at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he received specialty training in early childhood development and infant mental health.

Early & Mid-Career Experience

Previously, Dr. Willoughby was a staff psychologist at the Early Childhood and Family Center at Aurora Mental Health and Recovery for eight years, and at The Right Start for Infant Mental Health at WellPower for two years. In those roles, he trained in and applied best practice models for children birth to five years old and their families and developed specialties in treating attachment disruptions in parent-child relationships, the effects of intergenerational trauma within families, and post-traumatic stress disorder in infants and young children who have experienced child abuse and neglect, medical trauma, and traumatic grief, loss, and separations.

In the context of this work, Dr. Willoughby consolidated his use of attachment and systems theories as his primary lenses for understanding human relationships, and his interest in couples therapy was piqued. Similarly, in the context of individual collateral work with caregivers/parents, Dr. Willoughby helped individual adults with insecure attachment styles achieve what’s called “earned security,” by healing their relationships with younger parts of themselves, and his interest in adult therapy was awakened.

Additionally, Dr. Willoughby was a staff psychologist at Birch Psychology for nearly 11 years. In this role, he facilitated psycho-educational assessments for children and adolescents, and applied evidence-based treatments in working with infants and young children, children and families, and more recently with couples and adults.

Current Roles & Responsibilities

Dr. Willoughby is currently an Endorsed Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) Trainer for Colorado and trains behavioral health providers across the state in CPP, an evidence-based trauma treatment for children birth to five years old and their families.

Additionally, Dr. Willoughby partners with Illuminate Colorado on Safe Babies, an evidence-based court model informed by the science of early childhood, which aims to improve outcomes for infants, toddlers, and parents engaged in the child welfare system. More specifically, he is a member of the Arapahoe County Site Implementation Team, where he helps steer implementation efforts in that county, and he is a member of the State Advisory Group, where he supports statewide expansion efforts.

Finally, Dr. Willoughby currently provides clinical services to infants and young children, children and families, couples, and adults at Willoughby Psychological Services on a full-time basis. He is known for establishing secure and trusting partnerships with the individuals with whom he works. Dr. Willoughby is effective at facilitating healing and wholeness. By guiding others to expand their self-awareness, he works collaboratively to unearth the deeper and often hidden roots of distressing relational dynamics, be it relationship to child, relationship to partner, or relationship to self.