Sandra Mattar, PsyD

Clinical Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Mattar is a Clinical Psychologist, Clinical Associate Professor, and Director of Training at the Immigrant and Refugee Health Center at Boston Medical Center. She is also a Faculty at the Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology (CMTP). She is a graduate of William James College (formerly MSPP), and the Universidad Católica Andres Bello (Venezuela). She is a licensed psychologist with more than 25 years of clinical and teaching experience combined. She has done field research on war trauma in Lebanon. Dr. Mattar was Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the Graduate Counseling Program at Saint Mary’s College of California. Dr. Mattar is a founding member of Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA) and is a Past Chair of the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs of APA. She was a contributor to the APA Race and Ethnicity Guidelines Task Force. Dr. Mattar’s research interests are on the intersection of psychological trauma and culture; immigrants and refugee mental health; multicultural and international psychology; culturally responsive, trauma-informed education and training, and mindfulness and spirituality. She is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Psychological Trauma. Dr. Mattar is bilingual in English and Spanish and speaks conversational Arabic and French. She holds a Yoga Teacher certification (RYT500) as well as a certification in Triyana Buddhist studies.

Publications

  • Published 12/22/2022

    Taknint, Joelle; Rojas Perez, Oscar, Mattar, Sandra, & Piwowarczyk, Linda. Teletherapy trauma treatment in context: Caring for refugee patients during and beyond COVID-19 pandemic. Practice Innovations. 2022.

    Read at: Custom

  • Published 7/21/2022

    Mattar, S., Ipekci, B., Louis, E. F., & Taknint, J. T. . Training considerations for providers engaged in refugee mental health care. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation. 2022.

  • Published 7/20/2022

    Mattar S, Gellatly R. Refugee mental health: Culturally relevant considerations. Curr Opin Psychol. 2022 Oct; 47:101429. PMID: 35973355.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/1/2022

    Mattar. S., & Kimball, S. (2022). The traumatic impact of US immigration policies: a call of action for mental healthcare providers. Harvard Public Health Review. 2022.

  • Published 11/1/2020

    Mattar S, Frewen PA. Introduction to the special issue: Complementary medicine and integrative health approaches to trauma therapy and recovery. Psychol Trauma. 2020 Nov; 12(8):821-824. PMID: 33346679.

    Read at: PubMed

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Websites

Education

  • William James College, PsyD
  • Andres Bell Catholic University, BS/MA

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