Dr. Jeff Ball received his BA, MA, and PhD from UCLA, and has been a Clinical Assistant Professor at UCLA for over 30 years. He was also a psychoanalytically trained clinician in private practice, an Assistant Professor at USC, a Clinical Psychologist and Supervisor at the West Los Angeles Veteran’s Administration, and a clinical researcher in topics ranging from examining projective processes in close relationships to helping to create an integrative family treatment model for those with bipolar disorder and related issues. His expertise ranges from personality and mood issues to those experiencing psychotic and dissociative states. He has taught in all of these areas including psychoanalytic models and ethics in behavioral health.
In 2010, after many years of dissatisfaction with the current state of behavioral health treatment which is overly dominated by the medical model despite little research supporting its efficacy, Dr Ball founded and created a new psychosocial and integrative model that emphasizes depathologizing the human experience as well as providing multiple treatment modalities, including appropriate prescribing of medications.
In his role as Founder, CEO, and Executive Director of PCH, Dr. Ball has created a treatment and business model that emphasizes clinical best practices and the idea that we are all in this together. Our program is designed to provide new opportunities to help our clients navigate the human experience and create more contented and productive lives. In that quest, Dr Ball leads, supervises, teaches, and consults at PCH and presents his model and vision for mental health both within the center as well as in the clinical and academic communities.
Dr. Ball has been on the UCLA faculty at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior as an Assistant Clinical Professor for many years. He’s taught undergraduate and graduate-level psychology courses including Psychopathology, Psychological Assessment, Psychoanalysis, and Law and Ethics in Psychology. As an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, Dr. Ball taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses in Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis. He is also serving on the inaugural UCLA Psychology Department Board of Advisors and has created a training center at PCH to develop fieldwork and traineeship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at local universities.
In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, painting, and playing basketball and tennis as well as spending time with his family. His major goals in life are to change the face of mental health treatment and to watch UCLA win a national championship in football – unfortunately, the former is probably more likely than the latter!
