Dawn Vo-Jutabha, Ph.D. is The Guidance Center’s Chief Quality Officer. Dr. Vo-Jutabha earned her doctorate in clinical psychology with an emphasis in children and families from Clark University in Massachusetts in 2005. As the child of Vietnamese refugees and the first in her family to attend college, she watched her parents and grandparents work to be self-reliant and help others who were most in need; therefore, her passion has always been in serving those whose life circumstances placed them at a disadvantage. The Guidance Center’s mission to help the disadvantaged lead productive lives speaks directly to Dr. Vo-Jutabha’s belief that with help, there is hope for every family to build a life that they deserve. In keeping with those values, Dr. Vo-Jutabha has worked exclusively in community mental health agencies for the past 15 years.
As the recipient of the four-year grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to support her graduate research, Dr. Vo-Jutabha focused her research and clinical work on family systems, co-parenting in early childhood, attachment and adolescent identity development within a systemic context. Her research informed her clinical work with children and adolescents such that she never views a child behaviors without first considering their environment.
Though a clinician at heart who continues to provide psychological testing to children and adolescents, Dr. Vo-Jutabha’s current focus is on training future professional mental health clinicians as well as ensuring that clinical services provided to the agency’s clients are effective and efficient. She fulfills these goals through her role as the agency’s Chief Quality Officer as well as through leadership roles as the co-chair of the Southern California Association of Psychology Training Programs (SCAPTP), committee member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Programs (APPIC), and member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Commission on Accreditation.