Alena Borgatti, PhD

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Alena Borgatti is a Staff Psychologist at EBTCS who specializes in providing evidence-based treatment to people with eating disorders as well as those with chronic medical conditions.  She primarily uses Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), Family Based Treatment (FBT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approaches to promote health and recovery. She is passionate about advocating for equitable eating disorder treatment and recovery, especially for LGBTQIA+ individuals and individuals in larger bodies. Dr. Borgatti also has expertise in treating mental health concerns that co-occur with physical health conditions like Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, digestive and cardiopulmonary diseases, cancer, and chronic pain. In her practice, she balances validating client’s inherent worth and resilience to circumstances outside their control, while also empowering them to grow and adapt to build a life worth living.

Dr. Borgatti received her Ph.D. in Medical-Clinical Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which provides specialized training in understanding how medical and mental health concerns impact each other.  She completed her predoctoral internship at Denver Health Medical Center and the Acute Center for Eating Disorders, an intensive care unit for individuals hospitalized due to severe eating-related medical complications. Afterwards, she received postdoctoral training at the University of Colorado’s Barbara Davis Diabetes Center before joining the postdoctoral program at EBTCS.

In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Borgatti has a strong research background in weight discrimination, racial discrimination, and LGBTQIA+ discrimination as they relate to disordered eating and health. She is especially interested in understanding how social environments influence the ways that stigma occurs and is experienced, and how this impacts treatment outcomes.

Dr. Borgatti is a licensed psychologist in the State of Washington.