Dr. Gurney has been working with children, adolescents, couples, and families in her private practice for more than two decades. Her experience ranges from therapy with individuals, couples, families, and groups, developmental assessments of children and adolescents, and neuropsychological evaluations.

Dr. Gurney uses an integrative, relational, and strength-based approach to therapy, combining contemporary psychoanalytic theory, systems theory, attachment research, and cognitive behavioral techniques.

Dr. Gurney has been on the faculty at Westmont College since 2005. She teaches courses in Clinical Psychology, Child Development, Lifespan Development, Abnormal Psychology, Psychology of Marriage and Family, General Psychology, and Capstone Senior Internship in Psychology.

She earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, an M.S. in Psychological Services at the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in Psychology at Wheaton College. She completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Couples and Family Counseling and a Pre-Doctoral Internship in Individual Therapy at Harvard Medical School. She spent eight years working at Harvard affiliated Boston Children’s Hospital, where she trained under experts in the field of developmental and clinical psychology.

Dr. Gurney lives in Santa Barbara with her husband and their two daughters.