Dr. Sonja Batten is Booz Allen’s senior psychological health advisor and leads the firm's Behavioral Health Community of Practice. Prior to joining Booz Allen, she oversaw mental health policy as a senior executive in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the role of deputy chief consultant for specialty mental health. Her broad responsibilities in that position included supervising the development of all mental health policy related to the specialty areas of women’s mental health, military sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide prevention, substance use disorders, and collaboration with the Department of Defense. She also led VA’s innovative, nationwide mental health public awareness campaign “Make the Connection,” winning more than 50 awards in 2 years, and spearheading a complementary social media component for the campaign.
Sonja was also the first deputy director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury and the first associate director for Women’s Health Research at Yale University. While leading the outpatient and residential PTSD programs for the VA Maryland Health Care System, Sonja established the facility’s first mental health outreach and clinical program for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sonja earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada – Reno.
She is also a certified executive coach and Prosci change management practitioner.
