Washington Psychological Center, P.C.

Michael L. Hendricks, Ph.D., ABPP

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Dr. Michael Hendricks obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The American University in Washington, D.C., which is accredited by the American Psychological Association. He is board certified in Clinical Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and is licensed in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Dr. Hendricks is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Clinical Psychology, the Society of Clinical Psychology, the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and Psychologists in Independent Practice. He is a member of the American Association of Suicidology and the American Psychology-Law Society, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, by which he is a certified healthcare provider. He is also a registrant of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.

 

Research and Teaching Experience

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Dr. Hendricks has conducted research in depression and suicide, substance abuse and other compulsive behaviors, HIV, and issues of gender diversity at the Georgetown University Medical Center, the National Cancer Institute at NIH, and Virginia Commonwealth University. For 11 years, he was the chair of the Research Committee of the Virginia HIV Community Planning Committee. Dr. Hendricks has taught graduate courses in psychopharmacology at Argosy University in Arlington, Virginia, and has been a clinical adjunct in the doctoral clinical psychology programs at Argosy and at Howard University. Most recently, he has taught Clinical Psychopharmacology at The Catholic University of America and is a Clinical Professor in the Psychology Department at The George Washington University.

Dr. Hendricks and his co-author, Rylan J. Testa, Ph.D., developed the Minority Stress Model for clinical work with transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, which they presented in their seminal article in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice in 2012. This paper has been cited in further research testing the model and in several legal briefs addressing the mental health needs of transgender people. Dr. Hendricks has conducted numerous workshops on this model and other LGBT issues, on forensic topics, and on assessment and management of suicidality. He currently serves on the editorial boards for the peer-reviewed journals, Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity and Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, and serves as a peer reviewer for a number of other professional journals.

 

Clinical Experience

 

Among his clinical positions, Dr. Hendricks has worked at Spring Grove Hospital Center and Whitman-Walker Clinic, was Chief Psychologist at Umoja Methadone Treatment Center, was Chief of Outpatient Mental Health Services at the D.C. Central Detention Facility, has served as consulting clinical psychologist to various nursing and assisted living facilities, and has been a partner at the Washington Psychological Center, P.C., since 1999. He has experience conducting individual, group and couples psychotherapy. He currently works with adolescents (14 years old and up) and adults, including older adults, and conducts both individual and couples psychotherapy. In his psychotherapy practice, Dr. Hendricks addresses such issues as anxiety, depression, trauma, sexual dysfunction, substance abuse and other compulsive behaviors, relationship and intimacy difficulties, gay/lesbian/bisexual issues, and gender identity.

 

Evaluation Experience

 

Dr. Hendricks was trained in psychological and neuropsychological assessment at the William Allison White Building at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, at Georgetown University Hospital, and at NIH; and in criminal forensic assessment at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He previously served the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board as an Independent Evaluator, conducting state-mandated evaluations of adolescents and adults awaiting civil commitment hearings, and currently conducts various criminal and civil forensic evaluations for federal and state courts in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Dr. Hendricks has testified as an expert witness more than 1,700 times. He also conducts Independent Psychological Evaluations for various agencies, as well as other psychological and neuropsychological evaluations.