About Dr. Cora Palma

Dr. Palma is a Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP 3887). She is an adjunct faculty member at Chapman University for School Psychology and Licensed Professional Clinical Counseling (LPCC) students and has served as the Director of Mental Health Services for a California school district. Dr. Palma is a certified CSTAG trainer (Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines; the gold standard for school-based threat assessments). She was a practicing school psychologist for over 15 years, primarily working in underresourced communities in Los Angeles, and was the Director of the F.A.S.T. program at The Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. She earned her Master’s degree, school psychologist credential, and national certification (NCSP) in 2009, has been a Licensed Educational Psychologist since 2018, and earned her Ph.D. in Education and School Psychology in 2021. Her research and expertise include child development, psychological-educational evaluations, mental health disorders, trauma-informed practices, developmental trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), resilience, crisis intervention/prevention/response, and restorative practices in the school setting.

In her private practice, Dr. Palma offers psychological-educational assessments, Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE), trauma-informed direct services and training, and support to families and schools using a cohesive multi-disciplinary approach to intervention. She works to increase communication between families, schools, and providers by sharing resources and expertise to ultimately improve outcomes for the youth served. 

Dr. Palma provides training to schools and districts in suicide prevention and intervention, and preventing targeted violence at school through a behavioral threat assessment model.

Dr. Palma is skilled in a variety of areas including, but not limited to:

  • School Behavioral Threat Assessment

  • Suicide Prevention and Assessment

  • Crisis Prevention and Intervention

  • Developmental trauma

  • Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

  • Resilience

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Trauma in Schools (CBITS)

  • Restorative Practices in the school setting

  • Educationally related disabilities and mental illness

  • Psychological-Educational Evaluation

  • Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)

  • Educationally Related Mental Health Services (ERMHS) / Educationally Related Intensive Counseling Services (ERICS) Assessment

  • Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA) assessment

  • Building collaborative relationships between schools and families

  • Behavior intervention, consultation, and evaluation

  • Special Education law

  • IEP development

  • Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) / Response to Intervention (RtI) training and implementation