Practice Areas

Psychological Evaluation, Testing & Assessment - ¡Soy bilingüe!

Dr. Weil's specialty practice provides psychological evaluation, testing and assessment in English and Spanish at her Silver City, New Mexico office, via telehealth and/or through home visits, if appropriate. She serves youth (age 10+), students, adults, older adults, Veterans, and limited-English and Spanish-speaking persons.

Servicios disponibles en inglés y Español.

Psychological evaluation and assessment involves a clinical interview, health care record review, collateral interview, consultation with other professionals, administration, scoring, and interpretation of psychological tests and data to answer the referral question. Appointments may last a few hours or span multiple days.

Students – Academic & Learning
For students (age 10+ through adult), Dr. Weil provides culturally responsive psychological evaluations and testing of intellectual abilities and academic achievement including the diagnosis of specific learning disorders and ADHD. Dr. Weil makes recommendations for accommodations at school and college, and/or for testing centers.

Cognitive
Cognitive evaluations are performed for concerns about dementia or memory.

Capacity / Guardianship / Conservatorship
Self-pay evaluations are performed to assist the court, attorneys, and families determine clinical capacity questions including those of guardianship and conservatorship.

Disability
Disability evaluations are performed for state and federal organizations to clarify diagnoses of claimants and assist referral sources in understanding claimant's functional limitations.

Diagnostic Clarification & Assessments for Complex Patients
Psychological evaluation and testing is performed to clarify mental health and behavioral health diagnoses and assist other behavioral health professionals and physicians with focused treatment planning and recommendations for their complex patients.

Empowered Relief™ - offered at no cost!
(English/ Español)

Evidence-based, single session, 2-hour class provides adults skills to cope better with chronic pain.

Dr. Weil is a certified instructor by Stanford University.

Empowered Relief (PDF)

Mental Health First Aid®
(English/ Español)

Skills-based training helps adults to respond effectively to community mental illness & substance use.

Dr. Weil is a certified MHFA instructor by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

 

 

Mental Health First Aid (PDF)

Dementia

Dr. Weil is a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in practice with older adults including those with dementia. Dementia is not a normal part of aging. Dementia is a syndrome caused by a variety of brain illnesses that affect memory, thinking, behavior and the ability to perform everyday activities such as driving, self-care, medication management, problem-solving, and independent living. Dr. Weil assesses, diagnoses, and treats persons with dementia and supports their care partners. Dr. Weil accepts referrals for psychological evaluation and testing of cognitive functioning to assist patients, health care providers, & families.

Dr. Weil obtained advanced training and consultation from psychologists Drs. Linda Teri, Michele Karel and colleagues in the US Department of Veterans Affairs to implement the STAR-VA evidence-based interdisciplinary program for persons with dementia and staff training in assisted living residences for the VA (STAR-VA). As the Behavioral Coordinator & Psychologist in the community living center, Dr. Weil positively impacted patients and families affected by dementia. She coordinated implementation of STAR-VA and interdisciplinary staff training in behavioral interventions for managing challenging behaviors in VA Community Living Center residents with dementia to improve their interactions, quality of life and care received.

To learn more about behavioral and psychosocial strategies to manage difficult symptoms in patients with dementia, visit this link Living Well With Dementia (PDF).

Palliative & Hospice

Facing chronic and life-limiting illnesses presents unique needs for patients and families. Dr. Weil is an expert who helps people cope with chronic illness, find meaning and develop mastery and control to improve their emotional responses and make adjustments with an emphasis on quality of life according to the patient’s values. Dr. Weil is a board-certified geropsychologist, specializing in practice with older adults.

Dr. Weil has extensive training and experience working as a palliative and hospice psychologist on interdisciplinary inpatient health care teams in the federal prison and VA hospitals where she assessed and supported patients through the psychosocial and spiritual process of accepting and coping with chronic disease and life-limiting expectancies. Dr. Weil also led serious conversations with families related to advance care planning, directives, and end-of-life care decisions including those involving life-sustaining treatment decisions. Dr. Weil trained hospital clinicians and staff in palliative and end-of-life care, communication strategies, and self-care for health care workers. She was active on palliative care and cancer committees of the hospitals. Dr. Weil worked in oncology, hospice, palliative, dialysis, surgical, skilled rehab, spinal cord, ICU and SICU hospital divisions.

Dr. Weil possesses effective interdisciplinary team work and integration with health care and hospital staff to facilitate family meetings (goals of care) and sensitive conversations related to advance care planning with close involvement of family and the patients’ care partners.

Dr. Weil provides culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate holistic psychological assessments and practice to support patients, families, and health care staff cope with illness, anticipated grief & loss, caregiving, and treatment goals.

All hospice is palliative care but all palliative care is NOT hospice. Hospice care emphasizes comfort focused on symptom management and involves a physician prognostication of the primary disease to be 6 months or less. Hospice does not hasten or prolong life. It is not a place or where you go to die. It is not giving up. Hospice emphasizes patient autonomy, dignity and respect for values (QoL). Read more about palliative and hospice care here: nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-palliative-care-and-hospice-care.

Mind Body Health: A holistic approach to health and wellness

Dr. Weil has advanced training and experience as a health behavior coordinator psychologist in VA hospitals providing training and consultation to medical and nursing staff in motivational interviewing and TEACH communication to improve patient-centered whole health wellness. She collaborated in shared-medical appointments for patients and their health care team, offered assessments and interventions for sleep improvement (insomnia), tobacco cessation, substance use recovery, weight management, diabetes management, transplant psychological evaluations, and decreased chronic pain. She co-chaired the health promotion disease prevention committee and was the lead tobacco cessation clinician. Dr. Weil partnered with the American Chronic Pain Association to support Veterans and health care staff better understand and treat chronic pain.

Pain and Chronic Pain

Dr. Weil is a board-certified clinical health psychologist and obtained advanced training with Dr. Beth Darnall, Pain Psychologist and creator of Empowered Relief™ at Stanford University. Dr. Weil was the first certified Empowered Relief™ Instructor in the evidence-based single-session skills-based class in New Mexico. Interested service organizations and other agencies may coordinate with Dr. Weil to deliver the 2-hour class in English and Spanish at no cost to the public by by contacting (575) 342-1236 to bring the program to their facility.

Dr. Weil has been treating patients with chronic pain for over 10 years with cognitive behavioral psychotherapy (CBT) for chronic pain. Up to 1 in 3 people is living with ongoing pain of some kind, but most people do not have access to expert psychologists for CBT-chronic pain nor do they always have the time commitment for programs. Empowered Relief™ evidence-based, skills-based class requires only ONE VISIT. It is appropriate for persons with chronic pain, pre-post surgery patients, and those seeking non-pharmacological pain treatment options, and many more. Participants may bring one friend or family with them to the class.

Research results revealed that Empowered Relief™ was effective for reducing pain-related distress, pain intensity, sleep problems and many other symptoms with results lasting 3 months later. The class helps people and family:

• learn about pain and what they can do to help themselves,
• gain pain relief skills to use right away
• receive a free binaural relaxation audio file
• create a personal plan for pain relief.

The motto of the class is: Train your brain away from pain. Entrene la mente para que el dolor no se haga presente.

Cancer

Research over the last decade has shown that psychosocial interventions can lead to improved outcomes by helping persons with cancer cope with diagnosis and treatment [1]. This research also demonstrated that people with cancer who have higher stress have dampened immune responses [2].

Dr. Weil is a board-certified clinical health psychologist who helps those with cancer reduce their emotional distress by offering From Cancer to Health,™ an empirically supported biobehavioral intervention (individual & group) designed to teach recently diagnosed patients how to manage their stress, ways to lessen the impact of physical symptoms of cancer, and skills to cope with common problems faced by people with cancer.

Dr. Weil obtained advanced training and consultation to deliver From Cancer to Health™ designed by an expert panel of health psychologists (Dr. Andersen & colleagues) at The Ohio State University. Research revealed that patients who participated had:

· Reduced risk for cancer recurrence by 55%
· Reduced anxiety by 77%
· Improved immune response by 144%
· Improved perception of social support by 231%
· Improved physical functioning by 276%
· Reduced physical symptoms by 43%
· Positive dietary changes by 117%

[1] Andersen BL, Farrar WB, Golden-Kreutz DM, et al. (2004). Psychological, behavioral, and immune changes following a psychological intervention: A clinical trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 22(17), 3570-3580.

[2] Andersen BL, Farrar WB, Golden-Kreutz DM, et al. (1998). Stress and immune responses following surgical treatment of regional breast cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 90(1), 30-36.