get to know me

I am Dr. Pam Holtz, a licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist. I have been working in the mental health field since 2012.

I have long been inspired by the resilience of the human spirit. Humans have an incredible capacity to survive, endure, and adapt to extreme circumstances. We have all endured adversity and suffering. Yet oftentimes, the strategies we use to survive are not the same strategies that help us thrive. I would love to support you in your endeavor to build a rich, meaningful, and values-based life.

I am passionate about helping people process and make sense of their experiences. My training and clinical experiences have prepared me to treat a broad array of conditions, including anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, relationship conflict, and more. I am particularly passionate about treating chronic stress and trauma. This includes military trauma, sexual trauma, relational trauma, childhood trauma, military operational stress, institutional betrayal, and traumatic loss.

I have extensive experience working with military service members. Caring for military service members, veterans, and their families is especially close to my heart. For more information, please click here.

Coping with suffering can feel very isolating. You do not have to do this alone. I am committed to providing a warm and compassionate space for you to explore your experiences and their impact on you and your story as a whole. I believe in the power of connection, support, acceptance, and the importance of building meaning from our experiences. I hope to foster your sense of self-compassion and empowerment.

I am licensed in Alabama and Washington State. At this time, I can only offer tele-psychology services to individuals in these two states. Please stay tuned as I hope to be able to offer tele-health in other states soon.

All sessions are conducted virtually via secure, HIPAA-compliant video conferencing platform.

If you think we might be a good fit, please reach out for a free consultation call.

My approach to therapy

My approach to therapy embodies my values of:

  • Safety, trust, & transparency

  • Collaboration & flexibility

  • Compassion & non-judgmental curiosity

I am committed to building a safe and trusting relationship with you that will allow us to process your experiences, explore the meaning and impact of those experiences, and support you in your efforts to cultivate the life you desire.

I trust that you are the expert on yourself and your experiences. I believe in creating a collaborative partnership with you. Together, we will identify treatment goals and identify bench marks to determine if we are making adequate progress toward your goals. I will bring the knowledge and expertise I have acquired to support you and facilitate discussion, remaining open to your feedback throughout our work together.

Together we will create an individualized treatment plan that is uniquely tailored to meet your needs. To that end, I utilize an “integrative” clinical approach. This means that I will integrate approaches from a number of evidence-based clinical interventions to support you in meeting your goals.

I most frequently utilize interventions from the following treatment approaches:

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

  • Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy

  • Cognitive Processing Therapy

  • Prolonged Exposure

  • Attachment-Focused Therapy

  • Relational-Cultural Therapy 

I may pull from additional treatment approaches if they will assist us in meeting your treatment goals.

Thank you for being here. I recognize and honor the vulnerability and courage it takes to embark on this journey of healing and self-growth.

Treatment Specializations

PTSD & TRAUMA (including acute, chronic, recurrent, & severe trauma)

  • Sexual trauma

  • Combat trauma

  • Childhood trauma

  • Relational trauma & attachment injuries

  • Race-based traumatic stress

OPERATIONAL STRESS

ABUSE (to include childhood & sexual abuse)

INSTITUTIONAL BETRAYAL

BURNOUT & CHRONIC STRESS

ANXIETY & DEPRESSION

AVIATION PROFESSIONALS

GRIEF & TRAUMATIC LOSS

STRESS MANAGEMENT & COPING SKILLS

LIFE TRANSITIONS

RELATIONSHIP DISTRESS (Including interpersonal and marital issues)

GENDER & IDENTITY ISSUES

MULTICULTURALISM & DIVERSITY

SLEEP

social justice advocacy

While I may not be the best clinical fit for every prospective client, ALL are welcome here. I am committed to social justice advocacy and creating safe spaces that are affirming of all of the identities you hold. I am committed to anti-racism and I am LGBTQ+ ally.

I also acknowledge that, in this era of American history, there are a lot of misconceptions about what that statement means. That’s okay. I repeat: ALL are welcome here. If you are curious about what it means to be an advocate of social justice, you are welcome here and I would love to explore that with you further.

Ultimately, my goal is to provide a therapeutic space for people, from all walks of life, to explore and process their life experiences. With a better understanding of our stories and relationships, I hope to empower us all to best embody our personal values within the broader contexts and structures in which we operate.  

licensure & certifications

Licensed Psychologist – PY60833342

Washington State Department of Health

Licensed Psychologist – 2411

Alabama Board of Examiners in Psychology

Board-Certified in Clinical Psychology – Credential #10290

American Board of Professional Psychology

education

PhD, Clinical Psychology - University of North Texas (APA accredited)

MS, Psychology - University of North Texas

BS, Psychology - Loyola University Chicago

BA, Spanish - Loyola University Chicago

professional experience

Post-Doctoral Experience

  • Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Holtz Psychological Services LLC, Virtual Private Practice (serving multiple locations)

  • Licensed Clinical Psychologist, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) & 1/75th Ranger Regiment, Savannah, GA

  • Licensed Clinical Psychologist, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, Camp Humphreys, South Korea

  • Post-Doctoral Resident in Clinical Psychology (APA accredited), Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA

Pre-Doctoral Experience

  • Pre-Doctoral Intern in Clinical Psychology (APA accredited), Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA

  • Neuropsychological Assessment Extern, Dallas VA Medical Center, Texas

  • Psychodiagnostic Assessment Extern, Denton Psychological Services, Texas

  • Research Assistant, Trauma Services, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX

  • Neuropsychological Assessment & Psychotherapy Clinician, UNT Psychology Clinic, Denton, TX

  • Undergraduate Clinical Psychology Intern, Children’s Research Triangle, Chicago, IL

  • Undergraduate Behavioral Health Intern, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany

Teaching & Supervision Experience

  • Psychology Technician Supervisor, US Army

  • Teaching Fellow for Graduate Courses: Neuropsychological Assessment, Personality Assessment, Cognitive Assessment, University of North Texas

  • Teaching Fellow for Undergraduate Psychology of Women course, University of North Texas

Selected Military Experience

  • Command and General Staff Officer Course, Command and General Staff College, Fort Belvoir, Virginia

  • Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Course, US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Fort Liberty, North Carolina

  • Officer Combat Skills (Green Platoon), 160th Special Operations Aviation Training Battalion, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

  • Modern Army Combatives Program Basic Course, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

  • Traumatic Event Management Course, AMEDD Center & School, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington

  • Aeromedical Psychology Training Course, Fort Novosel, Alabama

  • Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency Program, US Cadet Command & IES Abroad, Quito, Ecuador

  • Basic Airborne Course, Fort Benning, Georgia

  • Army ROTC, University of Illinois Chicago

selected publications

Holtz, P.M. & Cruz, S.A. (2024). Mindfulness for Military Aviators. Aviation Digest, 12(3), 13-17. https://home.army.mil/novosel/7617/2964/0698/AD_JULY-SEPT_2024_FINAL_PROOF_FOR_WEB_10.21.24.pdf

Holtz, P.M. (2022). Coping with Difficult Military Schools. The Military Psychologist, 37(3), 11-14. https://www.militarypsych.org/wp-content/uploads/02-Holtz_TMP_FA22_Difficult-Schools.pdf

Holtz, P. M., Callahan, J. L., Janis, B. M., & Hoyt, T. (2022). Specific Rape Myths are Associated with Sexual Aggression among Military Leaders. The Military Psychologist, 37(2), 4-10. https://www.militarypsych.org/wp-content/uploads/TMP_V37_i2_AD_FINAL_Summer2022.pdf

Hoyt, T. & Holtz, P. M. (2020). Challenging prevailing models of US Army suicide. Parameters: The US Army War College Quarterly, 50(4), 7-19. https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters/vol50/iss4/3/

Maxwell, K., Callahan, J. L., Holtz, P., Janis, B. M., Gerber, M. M., & Connor, D. R. (2015). A Randomized Comparative Case Study of Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Memory Specificity Training (MeST) and Cognitive Processing Therapy. Psychotherapy, 53(4), 433–445. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282047660_Comparative_Study_of_Group_Treatments_for_Posttraumatic_Stress_Disorder

Holtz, P. M. (2015). Co-occurrence of Rape Myth Acceptance and Intolerant Attitudes in a Military Sample [Doctoral dissertation, University of North Texas]. UNT Digital Library. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1062855/

Holtz, P. (2015, June 9). 10 Myths about Traumatic Brain Injury. Task & Purpose. Retrieved from https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/10-myths-about-traumatic-brain-injury/

Holtz, P. (2015, April 7). 10 Ways to Support a Friend Battling PTSD. Task & Purpose. Retrieved from https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/10-ways-to-support-a-friend-battling-ptsd/

Holtz, P. (2015, February 3). 8 Common Myths About PTSD Debunked. Task & Purpose. Retrieved from https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/8-common-myths-ptsd-debunked/

Holtz, P. (2015, January 14). The Case Against Being Condescending. Task & Purpose. Retrieved from https://taskandpurpose.com/news/case-against-condescending/

Holtz, P. M. (2014). Personality and Mental Health Attitudes among US Army ROTC Cadets [Master’s thesis, University of North Texas]. UNT Digital Library. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700103/

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

— Viktor Frankl