Christine DiBlasio, Ph.D.

Christine DiBlasio, PhD, is a psychologist, consultant, and educator with more than 35 years of experience in the mental health field. She is the founder and director of Stone House Associates, where she provides clinical care and leads a multidisciplinary team serving individuals and families.

Dr. DiBlasio’s approach is warm, collaborative, compassionate, and individualized. She draws on a range of evidence-based approaches, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, somatic therapies, and EMDR, tailoring her work to each person’s unique needs, strengths, and goals. Throughout her career, she has worked with individuals facing a wide range of concerns, including anxiety and depression, trauma, grief and loss, life transitions, relationship and parenting challenges, stress, and adjustment to medical conditions.

Dr. DiBlasio received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Vermont and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at UVM. Her clinical experience includes assessment and psychotherapy services across the lifespan, as well as more than 20 years conducting comprehensive psychological evaluations within Vermont school districts. She has also served as a psychological consultant and prevention specialist, working across clinical, educational, and community settings.

Over time, Dr. DiBlasio’s work has expanded beyond individual clinical care to include consultation, professional training, and program development. She works with mental health and other healthcare providers, schools, agencies, and organizations seeking to better understand and respond to complex psychological and behavioral health needs. She provides consultations on various clinical and trauma-related concerns, treatment and program development, safety issues, prevention, and trauma-responsive practices. She brings to this work extensive clinical experience and a commitment to applying current research in practical ways.

Dr. DiBlasio is also a sought-after speaker and trainer whose workshops focus on trauma-responsive care, trauma recovery, violence prevention, empowerment, and resilience. These trainings help professionals respond to trauma and other challenges with greater understanding, compassion, options, and skill.

A distinctive dimension of Dr. DiBlasio’s work is her integration of psychology and martial arts. A 5th-degree Black Belt and Sensei in Kempo-Jujitsu, she has taught empowerment self-defense for more than 20 years in colleges, schools, community settings, and workplaces. She co-founded The Safety Team, Inc., a Vermont nonprofit dedicated to preventing violence, healing trauma, fostering resilience, and building safer communities. Her unique expertise led to the development of Therapeutic Empowerment Self-Defense (TESD). This mind-body approach combines basic self-defense skills with advances in trauma treatment, psychology, and neuroscience. TESD helps participants strengthen boundaries, enhance self-confidence, reclaim their voice, and discover the power in their bodies, all while healing from trauma.

Dr. DiBlasio’s work in trauma recovery and violence prevention has received regional and national recognition. She was named  USA Today’s Woman of the Year for Vermont, and her work has been featured in regional and national media and podcasts addressing trauma, violence prevention, resilience, and mental health.

At the heart of Dr. DiBlasio’s work is a strong belief in empowering individuals through knowledge, effective skills, and connection. Whether she is working with an individual, consulting with a professional, training a group, or collaborating with an organization, she brings a thoughtful, evidence-based, and deeply human approach to helping people and communities become safer, healthier, and more resilient.

Recognition & Featured Interviews

• USA Today Woman of the Year Video Interview
• Fostering Safety in an Unsafe World: Violence Prevention and Empowered Healing — Stone House Associates

Podcast Interviews

• Girls Leading and Rising
• Infinite Human — “Empower, Heal, Defend: The Story Behind The Safety Team”
• Disrupting the Dominoes
• Notice That — Episode 42: The Safety Team & Self-Defense
• Therapist Uncensored — Integrating Self-Defense, Neuroscience, and Affirmative Consent
• Couples Therapy in Seven Words: June 18, 2023

Media Coverage

• We Need to Reframe Gender Violence as a Broader Societal Issue — VTDigger
• Self-Defense Training for Sexual Assault Awareness — WCAX
• Local Workshops Prevent Violence and Foster Trauma Recovery — WCAX
• Healing Through Mindful Movement — Stone House Associates
• Seven Days and WCAX Feature Dr. DiBlasio and The Safety Team — Stone House Associates
• Women Teaching Women Self-Defense to Combat Sexual Assault — Local 22 & 44

Writing

Dr. DiBlasio writes about violence prevention, trauma recovery, resilience, well-being, and hope in her publication, Unsilenced, For Good.

For more information about consultation, professional training, or speaking engagements, please contact Dr. DiBlasio.

To learn more about Dr. DiBlasio’s innovative work for trauma survivors, watch this short video: