Trainer Biography
Geoff R Twitchell, Ph.D.
Dr. Geoff Twitchell is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (California Board of Psychology 2000) with advanced training in addiction and treatment of co-occurring disorders. His career in the field of addiction began over 20 years ago when he worked with Dr. Marc Schuckit (UCSD longitudinal alcoholism risk factors study). Dr. Twitchell went on to publish his Michigan State University Ph.D. research on biological underpinnings of alcoholism and related behavioral and affective dysregulation.
Dr. Twitchell’s VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System internship emphasized Dual Disorders treatment, Forensics and Neuropsychology. He completed a NIDA-sponsored postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, serving as Project Director and Clinical Supervisor on three NIDA-funded clinical trials of behavioral/pharmacological interventions for treatment of methamphetamine and cocaine abuse. He later served as Chief of Chemical Dependence Programs (Central California VA) and he served as a core faculty member for the UCSF-Fresno Psychiatry Residency Program with primary teaching and supervision responsibilities for residents specializing in the area of Dual Diagnosis. Dr. Twitchell also served as a Senior Supervising Psychologist at Central California Women’s Facility before returning to San Diego where he took a Lead Psychologist position at Sharp Healthcare.
Dr. Twitchell took his position as Treatment Director for the San Diego County Probation Department in September 2013. In this new position for Probation, he has assumed responsibility for identifying, implementing and evaluating evidence-based treatments for both adult and youth populations. Dr. Twitchell serves as the Clinical Liaison to Juvenile and Adult Superior Courts, community treatment providers, Behavioral Health Services, Sheriff’s Department, District Attorney’s Office, and Office of the Public Defender. He co-chairs the County Offender Treatment Committee, where his education and training in clinical assessment has informed the process for obtaining valid and reliable mental health, offender risk, and substance use data to aid the judicial process.