Founder of Clarity Rose Mental Health and Wellness Center
My name is Dr. Alexis Exum. I am a clinical psychologist and received by doctoral degree from the University of Kansas. I did my internship (residency) at Children’s National Hospital (CNH) in Washington, DC, as well as my fellowship with adolescent medicine at the Donald Delaney Eating Disorder Clinic at CNH. I am a certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) provider. I specialize in adolescent and young adult assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for eating and weight disorders, trauma, and mood-related disorders among primarily racial and ethnic minority, transgender, and sexual minorities.
I started Clarity Rose after my own personal experiences with eating, mood, and trauma symptoms. As a young Black woman, I didn’t know any women of color struggling how I was struggling. I didn’t see myself represented in my providers or in the patients they served.
However, I know now that all races and ethnicities are equally as likely to experience an eating disorder. About 30% of individuals with eating disorders identify as Black, and other races and ethnicities have similarly high prevalence rates with similarly low representation and culturally-trained providers. My hope is to build a Center that creates a space for culture, within a field where representation and cultural considerations are still lacking. Clarity Rose aims to build a bridge between research and the community that creates spaces for those underrepresented to see their emotions and life experiences represented on a larger scale.
I am trained in suicide assessment, behavioral activation, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy for eating disorders, social phobia, depression, and anxiety, trauma-focused CBT and cognitive processing therapy, as well as radically-open dialectical behavior therapy. I believe in patient-focused care, which means I individualize each treatment plan to meet the specific needs of each patient.
I am an intermediate Spanish reader and listener and a basic speaker of the language. I will have interpreting services to help serve patients and families with language fluency aside from English.
As a researcher, my specialization is in social inequity and cultural factors relevant to the development and maintenance of eating and weight disorders among racial and ethnic minority populations.
Clarity Rose Mental Health and Wellness Center, PLLC 