Dr. Johanna O’Flaherty

Dr. Johanna O’Flaherty, PhD, is an expert in crisis management from a psychological perspective, and a renowned expert in the field of trauma, addiction and recovery. She was the Vice President of Treatment Services at the Betty Ford Center from 2006 to 2013, and then served as the CEO of the Las Vegas Recovery Center, Senior Fellow of Clinical Services, from 2013 to 2016. She is an Advanced Level Nationally Certified Addiction Specialist, a Certified Employee Assistance Professional (CEAP), and a Certified Trainer for Critical Incident Crisis Debriefing Programs. She received her Doctorate of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in California.

Dr. O’Flaherty developed and implemented Crisis Response Programs for Pan American World Airlines, TWA Airlines, and has facilitated the training of Crisis Response Teams for several other airlines as well.  In her role as Corporate Manager of Pan American Airways’ Management of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP’s), she was responsible for the oversight of bio-psycho-social-spiritual aspects of the 1988 Lockerbie disaster.  This experience led her to become a pioneer in the aviation industry, organizing, training and responding to aviation disasters, and facilitating trauma processing, grief counseling, and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing.  In 1988, she also founded an educational program for chemically dependent women in Calcutta, India through Catholic Charities.  In 1996, she provided counseling services to the family members of 230 individuals who perished in New York on TWA Flight 800, the third-deadliest aviation accident in US history.  In 2000, she received the FBI’s “Exceptional Service in the Public Interest” award.  In 2001, Dr. O’Flaherty was again called to New York to assist with counseling airline employees and facilitated the Crisis Response training for the New York City Transit Authority after the terrorist attacks of September 11th. She has conducted Critical Incident Response training for the FBI and first responders.

Dr. O’Flaherty provided counseling to the first and last responders (coroners) of the October 1, 2017 massacre at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip, in which 58 people were killed and another 546 injured.  The incident is the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in the US, and reignited the debate over gun laws.

She is the author of two previous books: The Correlation Between Trauma and Addiction (2014) and Daddy Goes to Meetings (2015), maintains a consulting practice and an active schedule as a keynote speaker in crisis management and addiction.  Dr. O’Flaherty has been featured on CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN as well as several podcasts as an expert in field.

Dr. O’Flaherty lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.