Dr. Monica Whitlock has a Ph.D. in Sociology and Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California.  She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in California and Washington.  Dr. Whitlock has worked in higher education for the past 30 years, as an educator, a researcher, an administrator, and a clinician.  Most recently, Dr. Whitlock provided consultation through Washington State University to school districts and social service agencies to develop trauma-informed systems of care, and to increase educator capacity to manage the changing needs in the workplace.  She built a university counseling center and developed a university-wide suicide prevention and response plan to create a system of support for students experiencing mental health crises.  Her clinical work has focused on emerging adulthood, couples therapy using Emotion Focused Therapy, and working with families with adult children.

Early in her career, she was a member of the faculty in the criminology and criminal justice program at Arizona State University.  During these years, she managed several federally-funded grants designed to identify risk and protective factors among youth at risk of joining neighborhood street gangs.  She received a grant from the US Department of Education to examine individual, family, school and neighborhood factors associated with resistance to gang joining.