Dr. Drea Letamendi (she/her/ella) is a clinical psychologist, entertainment industry advisor, and two-time TEDx speaker with an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her PhD from UCSD. After completing her postdoc at UCLA’s Department of Psychology, Dr. Drea served UCLA as a campus mental health leader, which included three years as the interim director of the UCLA Resilience Center and eight years as the associate director of mental health training, intervention and response in Residential Life. 

Earlier this year, Dr. Drea began serving as the inaugural director of UCLA CAPS Compassionate Response, or “CORE.” CAPS CORE is UCLA’s first mobile crisis response program that deploys a team of unarmed responders who support, assist and provide mental health care for Bruins in crisis throughout our campus community. 

Dr. Drea also has a private practice as a behavioral science advisor for the gaming, tech and entertainment media industries (clients include Riot Games, Screen Junkies/Fandom, Warner Bros., Marvel, and Disney) and has written publications about the positive impacts of media on mental health, as covered in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. She also delivers trainings to studios to help industry leaders use science-backed behavioral health practices on-screen and behind the scenes. 

Her recent publications include: The Force Awakens: Using Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Using Star Wars  and Turning toward the Sound of Her Wings: The Sandman Series as a Doorway to Grief Literacy in Streaming the Sandman: Essays on the Netflix Series. She is the creator and co-host of THE ARKHAM SESSIONS, a podcast about the psychology of superheroes. For more information, visit her website at drdreapsychology.com.