Dr. Marie Dona
Dr. Marie R. Dona, M.D is a Dual Board-Certified Psychiatrist who specializes in Child, Adolescent, Adult and Perinatal Psychiatry. She provides client-centered, individualized care and treats a wide variety of people with numerous concerns.
She has extensive experience treating depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, OCD, mood disorders, and psychosis. Her therapeutic approach incorporates different elements of supportive, CBT and psychodynamic psychotherapy. She provides both therapy and medication management.
Dr Dona completed 3 years of general psychiatry training at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, and 2 years of fellowship training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, where she served as both chief resident and chief fellow respectively.
Dr. Marie Dona specialises in the following;
Dr. Marie Dona is licensed to practice in the following jurisdictions;
Dr. Marie Dona has the following qualifications and educational background:
“I am really interested in understanding each of my patients as a whole person, and that fuels my excitement to work in partnership with our primary care physician partners, because we are able to care for patients across body and mind, acknowledging the connection between emotional and physical wellbeing.”
I have always enjoyed learning about people and their stories; growing up, I always wanted to be a doctor so I could help people. During my rotations in medical school, I gained more interest in psychiatry as I found myself spending extra time on the wards, sitting and talking with the patients. I am really interested in the person as a whole and, having a medical background, I am able to identify potential medical contributions and their effects on mental health as well as the connection between emotional and physical wellbeing. At Daylight Health, I provide medication management as well oversee our team of therapists and care coordinators. The Collaborative Care model allows me to foster a comprehensive and coordinated approach to meeting the diverse needs of my patients.
I provide individualized, client-centered care. I enjoy collaborating with clients regarding their treatment and ongoing care, all while offering evidence-based expertise. Progress typically looks like resolution or improvement of symptoms, improvement of overall functioning, and a better quality of life. I do not typically provide homework unless we are specifically using a therapeutic modality that utilizes it, such as CBT or DBT. I enjoy working with all clients but have a special interest in working with those struggling with autism or ADHD, child and adolescent populations, the perinatal mother population, and LGBTQ populations.
I am really excited about the expansion of mental health care, acceptability of mental health care, and destigmatization of mental health in general. I think the expansion of telehealth has greatly expanded care, especially to underserved areas and to people who do not have easy access to mental health care professionals. I am also a big proponent on emphasizing client-centered, individualized care.
I have extensive training in psychiatry and therapy. I attended four years of medical school, three years of a general psychiatry residency, and two years of a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship. These programs were all full-time and required over 10,000 hours of clinical experience. During residency, I gained extensive experience, support, and supervision with specific therapeutic modalities, including cognitive behavioral, supportive, psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, dialectical behavior, and trauma-informed therapies. During training, I would often moonlight and so I have experience in emergency rooms, hospitals, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, partial hospital programs, and outpatient programs. I also frequently attend the APA and AACAP conventions (for psychiatry and child psychiatry) and complete CME to stay up-to-date on the most evidence-based medication management and therapeutic treatments.
I believe my upbringing has greatly influenced the way I see and treat clients. Growing up as a first-generation Filipino American with limited financial resources, I am used to being in the minority and want to expand care to everyone, including the underserved. I am open-minded and offer individualized, client-centered, culturally-competent care and believe it is important for me to be inclusive of everyone, regardless of how they identify or what they believe.
As a child psychiatrist, I am passionate about the Collaborative Care model for several reasons. It aligns with my holistic approach to mental health, involving various healthcare providers for comprehensive care. It also emphasizes patient-centeredness, actively involving the patient (and their family in the case of children and adolescents) in decision-making and treatment planning. I love seeing patients one-on-one in my private practice, but I'm limited to how many patients I can help. This access greatly expands access to behavioral & mental healthcare, especially in underserved communities, and scales my expertise across a larger patient panel. Most importantly, the Collaborative Care model has been proven through over 80+ randomized controlled trials to show improved patient outcomes vs. the traditional model of care. Its potential to positively impact lives fuels my passion for bringing this model to life!
We help kids and families thrive
Daylight provides therapy for children and adolescents in New York and Texas, online and in-person—covered by your insurance.
