Meet Karen Mendez, MD

Karen Mendez, MD, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist and board-eligible child and adolescent psychiatrist at Adelpha Psychiatric Group in Encino, California.

Dr. Mendez graduated from UCLA with a degree in Psychobiology. She spent four years working at the UCLA Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program, providing evaluations, assessments, and multidisciplinary therapy for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. She empowered children with cognitive, academic, social, and self-care skills through one-on-one discrete trial training, direct instruction, response pivotal training, and applied behavioral analysis.

Dr. Mendez obtained her medical degree at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and stayed at UCLA to complete a psychiatry residency and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship, serving as the Program Chief Fellow. During her fellowship, she completed the national curriculum in reproductive psychiatry and became a certified facilitator of the Circle of Security International Early Intervention Program for Parents and Children (an attachment-based, reflective parenting program).

Dr. Mendez has specialized training in mood disorders, reproductive psychiatry, anxiety disorders, ADHD, trauma-related disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders. With a holistic approach, she utilizes evidence-based psychopharmacology and various psychotherapy modalities, including interpersonal psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), focused family therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Dr. Mendez is a native of Lima, Peru, and fluent in Spanish.