Carla Stumpf Patton.

Dr. Carla Stumpf Patton, Ed.D., LMHC, QS, NCC, CT, FT, CCTP, is the Vice President of Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), overseeing programs and services in the military community after a suicide loss, and is the lead contributor to the TAPS Suicide Prevention Model™. She is a suicidologist and subject matter expert in grief, trauma, and suicide, a registered ASIST and safeTALK trainer in suicide first aid, and trained in Suicide Death and Psychological Autopsy Investigations and Crisis Response Planning.

She holds a B.S. in Psychology, an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Guidance, and a Doctorate of Education in Counseling Psychology, with her dissertation research focused on military families bereaved by suicide. Dr. Stumpf Patton is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, National Board Certified Counselor, Florida Qualified Supervisor, counseling educator in higher education, and a Certified Thanatologist and Fellow of Thanatology, and has been a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling since 2006.

She is the surviving spouse of Sergeant Richard Stumpf, an active-duty U.S. Marine Corps Drill Instructor and Gulf War era combat veteran who died by suicide in 1994, several days before their only child was born. She is remarried to a retired U.S. Marine, also a suicide-loss survivor, with whom she shares five children.