Biography

Dr. Sophie de Figueiredo, PsyD (she/her/hers) was born in Brazil and spent her childhood living in several countries until ultimately landing in the US, where Miami, Boston, San Francisco and now Los Angeles each became home. She is the Senior Clinical Training Manager at the UCLA Prevention Center of Excellence (COE) in the Department of Population Behavioral Health, which develops the L.A. County workforce’s ability to address the impact of trauma, promoting individual and community empowerment. In this role, Sophie oversees systems-level implementation of various trauma and resilience informed training programs for LA County (LAC) employees across sectors, including those from the Department of Mental Health, Office of Education, and Child Welfare. She has also overseen several County-wide community and crisis response efforts, such as developing trainings for LAC disaster service workers deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as developing resources and workshops for families, educators and first responders following the LA wildfires.

Dr. de Figueiredo is also a practicing licensed bilingual/bicultural clinical psychologist and prior to joining UCLA, provided direct clinical services, supervision, and education for almost a decade in service of culturally diverse and underserved LA County teens, young adults and families in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Her primary areas of clinical passion and expertise include working with folks exposed to complex trauma, pregnant/parenting teens, immigration and acculturation, and trauma-informed, intersectionally-affirming practices. She is especially passionate about supporting women from BIPOC communities in navigating their unique challenges in order to enhance opportunities for achievement, health and wellbeing. Her research has focused on risk and protective factors related to compassion fatigue and burnout among interdisciplinary groups of trauma providers. Outside of work, you can find Sophie trying new LA restaurants with her partner, spending time with family and friends, finding new ways to be more physically active, watching objectively bad TV, expanding her hot sauce collection and almost always spoiling her 11-year-old pit/lab pup, Charlie, with too many treats.