Ellen Behrens is a Utah licensed psychologist who received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Michigan State University in 1998. She has taught psychology at Westminster College, in Salt Lake City, and has worked with teenagers and families as a therapist, psychologist, clinical director, and consultant in private residential programs. She has been a grant reviewer for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a board trustee for a large independent school, and a member of the Standing Research Committee of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP). She was the principal investigator for a multi-center longitudinal study of outcomes in private residential schools and programs (conducted at 10 Aspen Education Group programs). She is the owner of Canyon Research and Consulting, a company uses an evidence-based practice approach to provide program development, outcome research, and clinical training for mental health programs and providers.