Dr. Ryan Heringa

(he/him)

Adult and Pediatric Psychiatrist, Trauma Specialist, Neuroscientist, MD, PhD

Ryan has a passion for helping others and has long been drawn to working with trauma survivors. He will tell you that he has learned far more from them about what resilience and strength mean, rather than what they have learned from him. His goal is to walk alongside trauma survivors and all those struggling with mental illness, in kinship as Father Greg Boyle would say. Ryan knows that at any minute, on any day, the tables can turn and he will be the one in need of help. We are all interconnected.

Ryan trained in general and child psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and completed a year long trauma psychiatry rotation with Drs. Judith Cohen and Tony Mannarino, the developers of Trauma-Focused CBT. He is also a neuroscientist whose studies the impacts of trauma on brain development in kids at the UW and hopes to use neuroscience to develop new treatments youth and adults struggling with mental illness.

Ryan is both humbled and thrilled to be a consulting psychiatrist at Anesis. As a White male he recognizes his immense privilege in this society and tries to approach his clients with cultural humility, a wholistic care approach, and recognizing the strengths that are inherent in the Black, Brown, and other marginalized communities. A psychiatry consultation means taking in the whole picture, thinking about what supports (individual, family, community) can be harnessed, what therapeutic approaches may help, whether medical problems are at play, and only then considering whether medication might be helpful.

As part of our Anesis-UW partnership, Ryan also mentors psychiatrists in training (residents/fellows) who are doing community psychiatry rotations at Anesis. This is not only a chance for our residents to better learn how to work with communities of diverse backgrounds, but also a chance for our BIPOC residents to work with clients with similar backgrounds to themselves.

These, of course, are all words. With every client and family, Ryan tries to hold a space where they can feel seen, heard, validated, and understood. A space where they can feel safe, just as Anesis has done for so many. That is something people will remember.