Rikki Patton, PhD, is the program director for the PhD in couples and family therapy (CFT) program and research professor within the Counseling and Family Therapy department. Prior to joining Drexel, she served as core faculty at another institution for nearly 10 years, where she established her line of research and gained extensive experience with program coordination and grant writing. Patton is a licensed marriage and family therapist (OH) and an AAMFT-approved supervisor.

Patton has a scholarly passion for substance use. It has been well established that addiction is a ‘family disease’, impacting multiple domains of life for those struggling with substance use disorder (SUD) and for their important others. While the literature base examining SUD and recovery processes consistently grows, the explicit application of relational-systemic frameworks for understanding patterns and dynamics related to substance use and recovery is lacking. There also continues to be a dearth of knowledge about how to best prepare our behavioral health workforce to manage the complexities of SUD and family dynamics concurrently, especially within the context of interprofessional collaboration and education. Her research plan is driven by these issues, with a focus on 1) systematically examining substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery using relational-systemic theoretical frameworks and 2) focusing research on interprofessional workforce development related to the intersection of substance use and relational systems.

View Rikki Patton's Faculty Spotlight

Faculty Fellowships

Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2012-2013) University of Michigan Substance Use Research Center

Professional Society

Selected Publications

• Patton, R., Chou, J., Zaarur, A. & Brown, D. (Accepted, 2025). One size does not fit all: the heterogeneous impact of COVID-19 on graduate-level behavioral health professions students. Journal of American College Health.
• Patton, R., Brown, D., Katafiasz, H., Ellis, J. (2024). Using virtual simulation to teach substance use screening and brief intervention skills across the health professions: Examining training outcomes among an interprofessional graduate student sample. Families, Systems, & Health.
• Patton, R., Chou, J., Zaarur, A., Dang, Y., Katafiasz, H., & Swint, P. (2023). Exploring substance use perceptions among Family Therapy and Counseling trainees upon entering an opioid use disorder treatment training program. International Journal of Systemic Therapy.
• Sang, J., Patton, R., & Park, I. (2022). "One Size Doesn’t Fit All”: A Qualitative Evaluation of Addiction Treatment from the Perspectives of Individuals in Recovery and Professionals. Substance Use & Misuse.
• Katafiasz, H., Patton, R., Tefteller, D., & Takeda, M. (2021). Ethical Decision-Making in Marriage and Family Therapy: An Introduction of a New Model. Journal of Systemic Therapies.

More Publications on Google Scholar

Grant Participation

Advertising and Society Quarterly

• HRSA Opioid Workforce Enhancement Program (Co-PI)
• HRSA Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (Co-I)
• HRSA Behavioral Health Workforce Enhancement Program (PI)
• SAMSHA Practitioner Education Program (PI)
• SAMSHA SBIRT Program (Co-I)

Research Interests

• Systemic understanding of substance use prevention, treatment and recovery across the lifespan, with particular emphasis on the young adult population and couples
• Interprofessional education and collaborative models for systemic substance use training and research
• Using technology to inform and enhance relational-systemic research and practice, including simulation and AI

• University of Michigan
  Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2013)
• The Ohio State University
  PhD (2012)Major: Human Development and Family Science
  Specialization: Couples and Family Therapy
• The Ohio State University
  MS (2008)
  Major: Human Development and Family Science
• The Ohio State University
  BS (2005)
  Major: Psychology
• The Ohio State University
  BA (2005)
  Major: Anthropology