Tarah Kuhn, PhD
Dr. Tarah Kuhn is a licensed clinical psychologist and has been a member of the faculty since 2005. Areas of expertise include juvenile justice, trauma and system level interventions. Dr. Kuhn is the Clinical Director of the Vanderbilt Center of Excellence for Children in State Custody (COE) providing ongoing consultation, training, dissemination of best practices and statewide quality improvement projects. The COE is part of a statewide network funded under an agreement with the State of Tennessee to improve the public health by enhancing the quality of services provided to children in or at-risk of entering the Tennessee child welfare or juvenile justice systems.
In the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dr. Kuhn provides teaching and supervision for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship program, Psychiatry residents, as well as Psychology practicum students, Predoctoral Interns and Postdoctoral Fellows.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Kuhn’s background includes clinical work with children and families with histories of complex trauma and juvenile justice involvement. An additional focus has been on multi-systemic collaboration to improve services and advocate for the clinical needs of children and families. Areas of training and technical support include Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Trauma and Resiliency Informed Care within child serving systems.
Research Information
Dr. Kuhn's research interests include trauma informed care, child welfare, juvenile justice and systems of care.
Representative Publications
Thome, J., Gracey, K., Epstein, R., Cull, M., Kuhn, T., Raman, R. (2024). Reporting of Child Maltreatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Southern State in the United States. Public Health Reports. 2024;0(0). doi:10.1177/00333549241245846.
Joseph, J., DesAutels, S., Gracey, K., Kronenberg, M., Kuhn, T, Raman, R. (2023). Child and family outcomes of the Safe Babies Court Team – A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 149, 106956, ISSN 0190-7409, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106956.
Siciliano, R. E., Anderson, A. S., Vreeland, A. J., Gruhn, M. A., Henry, L. M., Watson, K. H., Liu, Q., Cole, D. A., Ebert, J., Kuhn, T., & Compas, B. E. (2023). Physiology and emotions: Within individual associations during caregiver–adolescent conflict. Psychophysiology, 60, e14397. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14397
Henry, L., Watson, K., Cole, D. A., Torres, S., Vreeland, A., Siciliano, R., Anderson, A. S., Gruhn, M., Ciriegio, A., Broll, B., Ebert, J., Kuhn, T., & Compas, B. E. (2023). Mean-level correspondence and moment-to-moment synchrony in adolescent and parent affect: Exploring associations with adolescent age and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Development and Psychopathology, 35(2), 809-822. doi:10.1017/S0954579422000062
Anderson, A.S., Siciliano, R., Henry, L., Watson, K., Gruhn, M., Kuhn, T., Ebert, J., Vreeland, A., Ciriegio, A., Guthrie, C., Compas, B.E. (2022) Adverse Childhood Experiences, Parenting, and Socioeconomic Status: Associations with Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Adolescence. Child Abuse & Neglect. doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105493.
Henry, L., Gracey, K., Shaffer, A., Ebert, J., Kuhn, T., Watson, K., Gruhn, M., Vreeland, A., Siciliano, R., Dickey, L., Lawson, V., Broll, C., Cole, D., Compas, B. (2021). Comparison of Three Models of Adverse Childhood Experiences: Associations with Child and Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 130(1), 9-25. doi: 10.1037/abn0000644
Vreeland, A., Ebert, J., Kuhn, T., Gracey, K., Shaffer, A., Watson, K., Gruhn, M., Henry, L., Dickey, L., Siciliano, R., Anderson, A., Compas, B. (2020). Predictors of Placement Disruptions in Foster Care. Child Abuse & Neglect, 99. 104283. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104283
Kuhn, T., Cyperski, M., Shaffer, A., Gracey, K., Adams, M., Billings, G., Ebert, J. (2019) Installing Trauma Informed Care Through the Tennessee Child Protective Services Academy. Psychological Services (Vol. 16, 143-152). doi.org/10.1037/ser0000320
Kuhn, T., Ebert, J., Gracey, K., Chapman, G. & Epstein, R. (2015) Evidence-Based Interventions for Adolescents with Disruptive Behaviors in School-Based Settings. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinics of North America, 24 (2), 305-317
Bank, B., Kuhn, T. & Blackford, J. (2015) Modifying Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Incarcerated Female Youth: A Pilot Study. Journal of Juvenile Justice, 4 (1), 1-17