Bruce J. Tapper, Ph.D.

Bruce J. Tapper, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist licensed to practice in the state of Washington. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1969. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California in 1975. His internship was at the Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital in West Los Angeles from 1972 to 1973, where he specialized in research on suicide prevention, supervised by Dr. Norman Farberow, Ph.D.

In 1973, he became the Director of Crisis Intervention for the Intensive Treatment Program at the California Youth Authority in Norwalk, California. He provided direct psychotherapeutic services to incarcerated youthful offenders in crisis, including suicide attempts and other psychiatric emergencies, as well as being responsible for staff training, research and evaluation, and supervision of undergraduate and graduate students in field study.

He earned his Psychology License in California in 1977, and his California Marriage, Family, and Child Counselor License in 1978. From 1978 to 1981, he was the Director of the Adolescent Treatment Program at CPC Santa Ana Psychiatric Hospital in Santa Ana, California. He provided direct psychotherapeutic services to adolescent inpatients, conducted group therapy, family therapy, and performed diagnostic testing, as well as being the liaison between medical, nursing, and adjunctive therapies staff.

Dr. Tapper began part-time private practice with former classmates and colleagues John V. Flowers, Ph.D., and Curtis D. Booraem, Ph.D., in Corona Del Mar, California, in 1977, and began full-time private practice with Booraem, Flowers, and Associates from 1981 until 1995 in Santa Ana, California. He also worked with the ADP Medical Group in Anaheim, California from 1991 to 1995. He treated inpatients at a number of psychiatric hospitals in Orange County, California, providing individual psychotherapy, family therapy, and psychological testing. He also treated patients in a number of inpatient chemical dependency treatment centers in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. He was the supervising psychologist at the Breakthrough outpatient chemical dependency program from 1986 until 1990.

Teaching appointments included being an instructor at the University of California, Irvine, Extended University, as well as Chapman University in Orange, California. He taught introductory counseling, group therapy, and assertiveness training.

He has served on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Epilepsy Society and OC HELP, a support group for sufferers of sexually transmitted diseases.

His postgraduate study included training in neuropsychology with Dr. Ralph Reitan, Ph.D. He has extensive experience in the neuropsychological evaluation of head injuries and has testified as an expert witness in this area. He has also had extensive training in evaluation and treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. He and his wife, Dr. Viva Tapper, are both trained in the Gottman model of marital counseling.

He moved to Port Townsend, Washington, in 1995. He began individual private practice in 1995, and was joined by his wife, Dr. Viva Tapper, Ph.D., ARNP, in practice part-time in 1997 and full-time in 2000. They practiced together in Uptown Port Townsend until building their new office located next to their home along Discovery Bay in February of 2004.

His specializations include cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression and anxiety, individual treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, anger management, family therapy, and marital therapy utilizing the Gottman model. He also specializes in psychological testing, educational testing, neuropsychological testing, assessment of ADHD, and performs disability evaluations for Social Security.

He has been a member of the American Psychological Association since 1976 and has been a member of the National Register of Health Care Providers in Psychology since 1980.

Viva J. Tapper, Ph.D., ARNP, is an Advanced Registered Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner licensed to practice in the State of Washington. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Walla Walla College School of Nursing in 1995. She earned her Masters Degree in nursing as a Psychosocial Nurse Practitioner from the University of Washington School of Nursing in 1997. Her internship was completed at the Seattle VA Hospital Addictions Treatment Inpatient Unit. She was licensed as an Advanced Registered Psychiatric Nurse Care Practitioner with prescriptive authority in 1997. After beginning a part-time private practice in Port Townsend in 1998, she earned her Ph.D. in Nursing Science from the University of Washington in 2000 and specialized in Psycho-Oncology, doing research on psychological factors associated with breast cancer. She was supervised by Dr. Frances Lewis, Ph.D., ARNP. She has earned certifications in Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing and in Family Psychiatric and Mental Health nursing, with prescriptive authority for both adults and children.

Dr. Tapper was awarded a Citizens of the World Scholarship in 1998 where she was an invited lecturer to the Beijing Nursing School and the China Ministry of Health. She was the keynote speaker at the first international conference in psychiatric nursing for nursing instructors in China. She was honored in 1999 with the Oncology Nursing Foundation/ Rhone Poulence Rorer New Investigator Research Grant. She was appointed as a lecturer for the University of Washington School of Nursing, Department of Family and Child Nursing, in 2000. She has served on the Professional Review Board of the Journal of Nursing Scholarship since 2000. She sat on the executive committee for the Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses, and is on the advisory committee to the University of Washington for development of Rural Mental Health. She has published articles in journals including Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Family and Community Health, Psycho-Oncology, Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, The Nurse Practitioner Journal, and in the book Primary Care: A Collaborative Practice.

She is currently a member of the American Society for Psychosocial and Behavioral Oncology/AIDS, the Oncology Nursing Society, the Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses, the American Nurses Association, the Washington State Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau International ( Honor Society of Nursing), the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the International Society of Psychiatric- Mental Health Nurses. She also has Courtesy Medical Staff privileges at Jefferson General Hospital.

Dr. Viva Tapper is currently in full-time private practice with her husband, Dr. Bruce Tapper, Ph.D., and is the president of Partners in Well-Being, Inc. They practiced together in Uptown Port Townsend from 1998 until building their new office located next to their home along Discovery Bay in February of 2004.

Dr. Tapper's current private practice specializes in psychiatric medication evaluations as well as cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy with adults, adolescents, children, and seniors. She offers treatment for depression as well as anxiety disorders including Generalized Anxiety, Panic Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She also treats Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar Disorder, and is qualified to prescribe medications to children and adults with Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. She provides family therapy as well as marital therapy utilizing the Gottman model.

Jeffrey T. Collins, MD. 

Dr. Collins is a psychiatrist licensed to practice in the State of Washington.  He earned his MD degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1967.  He completed his Psychiatric Residency at Dartmouth Medical School in 1975.  He was thereafter engaged in private practice in Geneva, New York until relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1979. There he established a private practice in inpatient and outpatient psychiatry.  In addition, he served as a consultant at several mental health centers and the Penitentiary of New Mexico.  He also served as Medical Director of Clinica Comunidad,  a substance abuse rehabilitation clinic.  In 1989 he accepted the position of Medical Director at Ozark Counseling Services in Harrison, Arkansas.  He remained there until he filled a position on the clinical staff at Madison State Hospital in Madison, Indiana from 2004 until March 2007, when he moved to Port Townsend.

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