Bio:
Rikki Patton, PhD, is Program Director for the PhD in Couple and Family Therapy program and Research Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at 91制片厂. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in Ohio and an AAMFT-approved supervisor. Prior to joining Drexel, she served as core faculty at another institution for nearly 10 years, where she established a programmatic line of research, led academic programs, mentored graduate students, and developed extensive experience in grant writing, implementation, and interprofessional training.
Dr. Patton’s scholarship focuses on substance use, behavioral health, and relational-systemic approaches to prevention, intervention, and workforce development. Her work is grounded in relational-systemic theory, with particular emphasis on contextual therapy and its focus on relational ethics. From this perspective, substance use and related public health concerns, including trauma, violence, and stigma, are understood not only as individual experiences but also as relational, developmental, and systemic processes. Through her research, she examines how clients, families, and providers respond to complex behavioral health needs, with particular attention to how relational dynamics shape screening, treatment engagement, recovery, and help-seeking.
The central focus of Dr. Patton’s current research is strengthening the behavioral health workforce through interprofessional education and interdisciplinary research. She is particularly interested in how providers develop the skills and capacity needed to address substance use, stigma, and family dynamics in real-world clinical settings. Her recent work also integrates large language models (LLMs) and AI-assisted approaches to support scalable training, fidelity assessment, and implementation of evidence-informed care.
Situated within Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dr. Patton’s research advances a behavioral health science agenda that bridges couple and family therapy, interdisciplinary approaches to research and practice, and public health. Her work contributes to the department’s broader focus on understanding human behavior, mental health, and systems of care by bringing a relational-systemic lens to pressing behavioral health challenges.
Selected Publications:
Patton, R., morales, g., Dickinson, M., Kairys, L., Pedersen, K., Martin, S., & Katafiasz, K. (2026). Relational Ethics and Substance Misuse: Insights from a Community-based Sample. Contemporary Family Therapy.
Katafiasz, H., Patton, R., Maloney, G., & Swift, G. (2026). What do we know about Trauma-informed Supervision across the mental health professions? A Scoping Review Traumatalogy.
Patton, R., Brown, D., Katafiasz, H., Ellis, J. (2024). Using virtual simulation to teach substance use screening and brief intervention skills across the health professions: Examining training outcomes among an interprofessional graduate student sample.鈥Families, Systems, & Health.
Chou, J., Patton, R., & Aletaris, L. (2024). Examining utilization of family-based therapies in substance use treatment centers. Contemporary Family Therapy.
Patton, R., Chou, J., Kester, T., & Feeney, E. (2024). Exploring social connectedness, isolation, support, and recovery factors among women seeking substance use treatment. Women & Health.
Chou, J., Patton, R. et al. (2023). Understanding Families Impacted by Opioid Use: Outcomes of a Therapist Training Program. Families, Systems, & Health.
Patton, R., Chou, J., Zaarur, A., Dang, Y., Katafiasz, H., & Swint, P. (2023). Exploring substance use perceptions among Family Therapy and Counseling trainees upon entering an opioid use disorder treatment training program. International Journal of Systemic Therapy.
Sang, J., Patton, R., & Park, I. (2022). "One Size Doesn鈥檛 Fit All鈥: A Qualitative Evaluation of Addiction Treatment from the Perspectives of Individuals in Recovery and Professionals. Substance Use & Misuse.
Chou, J. L., Patton, R., Cooper-Sadlo, S., Swan, C., Bennett, D., McDowell, D., Zaarur, A., & Schindler, B. (2022). Stigma and Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) among Women. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.