A year after enrolling at New York University (NYU), Dr. Gaies joined the doctoral program at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), where she obtained an MA in Educational Psychology and then a PhD in Counseling Psychology. While at UT Austin, she engaged in educational pursuits related to mindfulness and Eastern traditions, including Buddhist and Indian Philosophy university courses, self-compassion seminars led by Dr. Kristin Neff, mindfulness trainings conducted by MBSR-certified instructors, and many other presentations, classes, seminars, and learning opportunities related to the mind-body connection. Through these experiences, she became an expert in using these philosophies and tools in therapy to enhance individuals’ mental health and quality of life. Moreover, Dr. Gaies’s research focused on exploring the positive effects of mindfulness and self-compassion in relation to physical and mental health, as well as studying how mental health stigma affects therapy and wellbeing. Her dissertation focused on the negative impact of over-diagnosing patients and investigated ways in which psychologists can ensure that patients are treated with respect and dignity as unique individuals while in therapy.

After finishing her coursework and academic research, Dr. Gaies went on to complete both her Pre-doctoral Internship and Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. During her time at the VA, she spent more than half of her clinical hours specializing in Integrative Behavioral Health disciplines, such as insomnia and sleep problems, chronic pain, cardiac anxiety, sexual health, pelvic pain, eating disorders and emotional eating, weight management, and health anxiety. During her training, Dr. Gaies also worked in the Trauma Recovery Program/Military Sexual Trauma Unit, where she helped individuals work through their experience of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) using Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). While at the VA, Dr. Gaies became certified in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Motivational Interviewing (MI), as well as becoming an expert in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CPT-I) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Additionally, she created mindfulness groups and therapies to help individuals overcome anxieties, traumas and long-held self-limiting beliefs, alleviating mental health problems that many patients believed would never be improved. To round out her experience, Dr. Gaies also spent time strengthening her leadership skills with a minor rotation shadowing the executive leadership team in the psychology department.

Prior to opening SGS Practices, Dr. Gaies worked for several years at a New York City-based private practice, where she honed her clinical skills related to mindfulness and hypnosis/hypnotherapy. During those years, she was able to specialize in areas of personal and clinical interest, including anxiety (general and health-related), life transitions, insomnia, infertility, pregnancy and postpartum support, relationship concerns, career conflicts and performance problems, trauma, grief and loss, emotional eating, and eating disorders.