Jeffrey Aaron, Ph.D. is a clinical and forensic psychologist. Currently the Juvenile Justice and Behavioral Health Program Manager for the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services, he previously spent almost 18 years at the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents (CCCA), Virginia’s only public psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. At CCCA, Dr. Aaron practiced as a psychologist for 14 years and during that time was the Clinical Director of an adolescent unit, the Forensic Coordinator, Co-director of Psychology, and the Chair of the Ethics Committee. He then served as the hospital’s Director.

Dr. Aaron is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia Medical School and associate faculty at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry & Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He has an independent practice in which he conducts forensic psychological evaluations of adolescents and adults, and he has served as an expert witness in Juvenile and Circuit courts across Virginia. Areas of forensic specialization include evaluation of confessions, mitigation, posttraumatic stress, and juvenile justice. He has published in the areas of coping with stress, trauma, and forensic psychological evaluation, provided invited testimony before the Virginia House and Senate, and has presented across the country on topics including forensic mental health evaluation, adolescent development and legal decision-making, coping with traumatic loss, and clinical assessment of children and adolescents. Dr. Aaron was a member of the Mental Health Workgroup of the Governor’s Task Force on School and Campus Safety and the Virginia Interagency Task Force charged with making recommendations to the Virginia General Assembly regarding the transformation of Virginia’s juvenile justice system, and currently serves on the Charlottesville/Albemarle gang intervention project known as Gang Reduction through Active Community Engagement (GRACE).