Christina Athineos, PhD

Director of Postdoctoral Training, Senior Supervising Psychologist.

Dr. Christina Athineos (she/her) is a clinical psychologist, licensed in NY & NJ. Dr. Athineos specializes in providing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure response prevention (ERP), with experience utilizing techniques from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), and mindfulness and acceptance-based behavioral therapy. Dr. Athineos implements these evidence-based treatments across populations for a range of psychological presentations. Her specialties include anxiety disorders (including selective mutism as part of CFI’s “Brave Voices” team), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community. 

Dr. Athineos graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in communication disorders from The College of New Jersey’s honors program. Dr. Athineos then earned her M.S and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from Suffolk University in Boston, MA. She trained in Suffolk’s Community Action-Based Research Lab, where she designed social justice-based research studies. These included her master’s thesis on nonprofit organizational use of social media and her dissertation on the individual and systemic effects of cyber harassment.

Prior to her work at CFI, Dr. Athineos completed an American Psychological Association-accredited pre-doctoral internship at ANDRUS, a family-centered nonprofit specializing in trauma-informed, community-based mental health. During her year there, she provided individual, family, and group therapy via teletherapy, as well as neuropsychological assessment. Dr. Athineos has previously trained and worked with New York Presbyterian Hospital, Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, The May Institute, Hybridge Learning Group, and McLean Hospital’s child and adolescent OCD Institute.