Dr. Ricardo Gillispie, PhD, LCSW

Dr. Ricardo Gillispie built a long career in social work that began with a Bachelor of Social Science from Mississippi Valley State University in 1973 and continued with a Master of Social Work from the inaugural MSW program at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1975. He later entered the first Ph.D. program in social work at Jackson State University and completed his doctorate in 2000 with a primary focus on psychotherapeutic social work.

Over decades of practice he combined clinical leadership and program development. Before retiring from private practice he was part owner and CEO of Family Counseling Services, PLLC in Meridian, Mississippi, a group practice that included psychiatrists, licensed clinical social workers, Ph.D. clinical psychologists, licensed professional counselors, and psychiatric nurse practitioners. His clinical focus in private practice emphasized marriage and family therapy and the treatment of cognitive and affective disorders, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Following retirement from private practice he accepted a role as a group therapist for Rush/Ochsner Intensive Outpatient Psychogeriatric Programs serving multiple locations across East Mississippi. In 2000 he also began consulting for Rush Psychogeriatric Intensive Outpatient Programs, helping to develop behavioral health services for older adults with mental health, aging, and emotional concerns, providing training for social workers, psychiatrists, and nurses, and surveying those programs in line with CMS guidelines.

His consulting work extended into corrections beginning in 1999 at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, where he designed what was described as the first exclusive mental health program in corrections in the United States. In February 2006 he accepted a full-time position as Deputy Warden of Mental Health Programs at the same facility while continuing his private practice.

Earlier roles include serving from 1973 to 1985 as Assistant Director for Region Ten (Weems) Mental Health Center, covering a nine-county catchment area and authoring the initial operation grant for the center as well as other grant work. In 1986 he was Clinical Director and an investor in Laurel Wood Psychiatric Hospital in Meridian. He also served fifteen years on the Meridian School Board of Trustees, including two terms as board president.

Dr. Gillispie has held leadership positions in the profession, including election as Region Ten representative to the National Association of Social Workers Nomination and Leadership Committee, representing six states, and appointment in 1994 to the first Mississippi Social Workers Licensure Board, where he served a term as chair. He has worked as an auditor of correctional facilities for the American Correctional Association and as a psychiatric social worker surveyor consultant for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, surveying psychiatric hospitals for Medicare and Medicaid compliance.

His recognitions include being named the first Social Worker of the Year by the Mississippi Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in 1992 and induction into the Meridian Community College Hall of Fame in 2006. He has taught as a part-time instructor for Mississippi State University School of Social Work - Meridian Branch and at Meridian Community College, and he has served as Adjunct Faculty for the Univers.

Dr. Gillispie is a licensed clinical social worker in Mississippi (license MS LCSW C0082), is recognized as a Diplomat in Clinical Social Work, and holds certification from the Academy of Certified Social Workers. With a career spanning five decades, his work has combined hands-on clinical care, program development, training, and administrative leadership.