Faculty
Heather Staufenberg, PhD , MA
Fall 1980 - Fall 2120
Los Angeles College of Chiropractic - STAC
heatherstaufenberg@scuhs.edu
Current Position
Biography
Dr. Heather Staufenberg is a licensed clinical psychologist, serving as the Assistant Director of Bureau Operations for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), Psychological Services Bureau. While her primary duty is overseeing the daily operations of the Bureau, she also continues to carry a clinical caseload, create and lead trainings pertinent to law enforcement personnel as a POST-certified instructor, and engage in industrial/organizational consultation. She previously held the title of Law Enforcement Psychologist, focusing primarily on clinical work with Department employees and families and industrial/organizational consultation with Scientific Services Bureau and Special Victims Bureau.
Prior to joining the LASD family, Dr. Staufenberg worked in various private, public, and non-profit settings providing assessment, evaluation, crisis intervention, short-term stabilization, and long-term therapy. She also worked as a correctional officer for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Through her various experiences, Dr. Staufenberg has gained an understanding of the law enforcement culture and the stress experienced by law enforcement personnel and their families. She is also clear on the value and necessity of maintaining optimal health and wellness.
Dr. Staufenberg earned a MA in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, as well as a PsyD in clinical psychology (with a focus on forensic psychology) from William James College. She completed a forensic post-doctoral fellowship at Harbor UCLA, allowing her to work in LASD's jail facilities for both men and women.
Dr. Staufenberg's professional interests include using evidence-based treatments to assist people who have experienced trauma, helping people live a meaningful life while accepting life's challenges, and encouraging people to find and maintain a healthy work-life balance for the purpose of optimal health and wellness.
Degrees
Psy.D., Psychology, William James College, Boston, Massachusetts
M.A., Forensic Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York
Professional Licensures (Healthcare)
PSY, California, United States, 23979, Active, 2010, January 2024, 1427255256
Work Experience
2015 - Ongoing
Assistant Director, Bureau Operations, LA County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles, California, United States
Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions
Journal Article
Completed/Published
Hear from the Students Who’ve Been in Your Shoes
I chose SCU when looking for a PA program because of their Integrative Medicine approach. I am from Michigan, and not many programs focus on this Integrative, Holistic approach when it comes to patient care in the Midwest, and I felt that was very important for me to learn as a future provider. My transition to semi-virtual learning has been very smooth and quite enjoyable. [su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part about attending SCU is how tight-knit and diverse the community is. Coming from a large undergrad university and moving so far, it was very important for me to have a PA program that made me feel valued and invested in my success. At SCU, they do a great job of making you feel that.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Brianna Hadley
MSPA Class of 2022
One of the great things about SCU is we do have a campus layout, so all your classes aren't in a single room. We have our cadaver lab. We have different specialty rooms for physical assessment classes vs. acupuncture classes. All our acupuncture-specific classes have all the herbs in the room. You can pull out the herbs and look at them, whether in class or in between classes to get that extra studying in.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part of SCU is the collaboration from our beginning terms. We were working alongside chiropractor students, PA students, and ayurvedic students. It's a unique community where we get to learn about these different fields and sit in classrooms with them and work with them in the clinic. It allows you to get an understanding of all the different fields and how they can work together, and what is unique about your field. I think that is a wonderful aspect that I didn't think was going to be as prominent as it is here; even now, in my upper term classes and I am not in class with chiropractic students, I can still reach out to them about a certain aspect I may not understand or if I am working on a case. I want another perspective I know I have them to reach out to, so that has been a great networking community to have resources for.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Dr. Jamie Kuljis
Graduate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
"There are a lot of things that I love about the program at SCU. The first one is that the faculty come from a long line of Ayurvedic knowledge deeply rooted in ancient classical text. They studied Ayurveda, but they also lived it. When you learn from people who embody this wisdom, it's much easier to grasp this knowledge. The second thing I love is the camaraderie within the cohort. The combination of the training, supportive faculty, and the support of my peers and classmates has given me the confidence I need to start my own practice."
Portia Harris
Student, Ayurveda Program
Some of my favorite courses at SCU have to be the chiropractic procedure classes; those are the classes you get to hone in on your chiro skills, your palpation skills and ultimately work on the adjustments that make you a chiropractor. Those are the classes I feel enhance my knowledge the most and are some of the reasons I chose to become a chiropractor here are SCU.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]On top of chiropractic procedures classes, my favorite is the cadaver lab experience. The cadaver classes opened up my perception of what the human body is made up of. It allowed me to get an in-person perspective of how the body works and looks on the inside. I am genuinely thankful for those experiences because they opened and broadened my horizons to the human body and anatomy in general.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Jordan Vega
Student, Doctor of Chiropractic
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