Kristen Woodberry, MSW, PhD, is a clinical social worker, licensed clinical psychologist, and early psychosis researcher at the MaineHealth Institute for Research and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A graduate of Bowdoin College, she obtained her MSW from Simmons College School of Social Work and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Harvard University. She is a Research Assistant Professor in the Psychiatry Department at the Tufts School of Medicine.
With over 25 years of clinical experience with children, adolescents, and families, including pioneering work adapting multifamily psychoeducational group therapies for adolescents and their families, Dr. Woodberry’s research has focused on early intervention in major mental health conditions. She is particularly interested in 1) understanding and altering vulnerability-stress interactions and trajectories in young people at risk for or in the early stages of these conditions, 2) improving earlier identification and engagement of adolescents and young adults in primary care settings, and 3) understanding the needs of rural youth with psychotic-spectrum experiences to guide the expansion of specialized care to rural communities.
Dr. Woodberry has secured three National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. The first was a Career Development grant to test the feasibility of using multiuser biofeedback videogames to teach young people and their parents how to alter their stress reactivity within the context of interpersonal interactions. The second, the Daily Life Study, funded by an NIH Exploratory/ Developmental Award, collected dynamic data to better understand the interaction of emerging symptoms and social context over time. Using a smartphone app, Boston and Portland area youth ages 15-25 provided multiple symptom reports a day across three weeks. These data, although incomplete due to COVID, allowed us to characterize substance use in a sample of adolescents and young adults diagnosed with a psychotic disorder or clinical high risk syndrome. We also explored the potential clinical implications of intensive longitudinal data collected over different temporal windows and sampling frequencies and analyzed with novel ideographic modeling techniques. The third, a pilot study funded through a Maine Health Acute Care COBRE grant, is examining the pathways to care of rural vs. nonrural youth with psychotic-spectrum experiences and the potential for Peer Support as an early point of contact.
With generous funding from the Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation, Dr. Woodberry is working with key partners in adolescent medicine and psychiatry to improve early detection and intervention in emerging psychosis within primary care settings serving adolescents and young adults. This funding along with funding from the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP) and the thoughtful contributions of the Prevention Collaborative supported the development of online (psychosisscreening.org) and hard copy resources (Booklet and Card) were developed to support this effort. The feasibility of this work, “Screening for Early and Emerging Mental Experiences” (SEE ME), is being tested through projects at Boston Children’s Hospital Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and in MaineHealth pediatric and family medicine practices.
These research projects are one arm of Early Intervention in Psychosis Programming at Maine Medical Center initiated through the nationally-recognized Portland Identification and Early Referral PIER Program. The specialized team of clinicians and researchers provides an array of innovative clinical services, family and provider education, and regional and national trainings, as well as research. Dr. Woodberry and her staff is specifically supporting the data collection component of an innovative and SAMHSA-funded stepped care model for young people at high risk for psychosis.
Learn more about supporting the PIER Program’s work through donations.
Weiss DM, Aslinger E, Cook WL, Johnson KA, Lafit G, et al. (2023) Capturing Individual Sleep, Mood, and Psychotic Symptom Dynamics over Time: A Case Illustration of Novel Ideographic Modeling and Visualization Strategies. JSM Schizophr 3(1): 1014. https://doi.org/10.47739/1014
Woodberry KA, Johnson KA, Shrier LA (2022). Screening for early emerging mental experiences (SEE ME): A model to improve early detection of psychosis in integrated primary care. Frontiers in Pediatrics. 10. 899653. org/10.3389/fped.2022.899653
Weiss, DM, Bernier, E, Robbins, DI, Elacqua, KM, Johnson, K, Powers, K, Mesholam-Gately, RI, Woodberry, KA (2022). Using experience sampling methodology data to characterize the substance use of youth with or at-risk of psychosis. Frontiers Psychiatry. 13:874246. org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.874246
Herrera, SN, Larsen, EM, DeLuca, JS, Crump, FM, Grivel, M, Blasco, D, Bryant, C, Shapiro, DI, Downing, D, Girgis, RR, Brucato, G, Huang, D, Kufert, Y, Verdi, M, West, ML, Seidman, L, Link, BG, McFarlane, WR, Woodberry, KA, Yang, LH, & Corcoran, CM (2022). The association between mental health stigma and face emotion recognition in individuals at risk for psychosis. Stigma and Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000379
Johnson, KA, Shrier, LA, Eiduson, R, Parsa, N, Lilly, M, D’Angelo, E, Straus, JH, Woodberry, KA. Depressive symptom screening and endorsement of psychosis risk-related experiences in a diverse adolescent and young adult outpatient clinic in the US. Schizophr Res. 2021
Woodberry KA, Powers KS, Bryant C, Downing D, Verdi MB, Elacqua KM, Reuman ARL, Kennedy L, Shapiro DI, West ML, Huang D, Crump FM, Grivel MM, Blasco D, Herrera SN, Corcoran CM, Seidman LJ, Link BG, McFarlane WR, Yang LH. Emotional and stigma-related experiences relative to being told one is at risk for psychosis. Schizophr Res. 2021 Sep 28;238:44-51. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2021.09.017. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34598105.
Kennedy, L., Johnson, K., Cheng, J., Woodberry, K.A., A public health perspective on screening for psychosis within general practice clinics. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 10:1025. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.01025
Woodberry KA, Seidman, LJ, Bryant, C, Addington, J, Bearden, CE, Cadenhead, K, Cannon, TD, Cornblatt, BA, McGlashan, T, Mathalon, DH, Perkins, D, Tsuang, MT, Walker, EF, Woods, SW. Treatment precedes positive symptoms in North American adolescent and young adult clinical high risk cohort. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 2018; 47(1); 69-78. PMCID: PMC5533647
Woodberry, KA, Kline, E, Giuliano, AJ. (2017). Schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In T.H.Ollendick, S.W. White, & B.A. White (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodberry, KA, Shapiro, DI, Bryant, C, Seidman, LJ. Progress and future directions in research on the psychosis prodrome: a review for clinicians. Harvard Reviews Psychiatry 2016; 24(2): 87-103. PMCID: PMC4870599
Woodberry, KA, Serur, R.A., Hallinan, S.B., Mesholam-Gately, R.I., Giuliano, A.J., Wojcik, J.D., Keshavan, M.S., Frazier, J.A., Goldstein, J.M., Shenton, M.E., McCarley, R.W., Seidman, L.J. Frequency and pattern of childhood symptom onset reported by first episode schizophrenia and clinical high risk youth. Schizophrenia Research 2014; 158: 45-51. PMCID: PMC4207713
Woodberry, KA, Gallo, KP, & Nock, MK. An experimental pilot study of response to invalidation in young women with features of borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry Research 2008; 157: 169-180.
Woodberry, KA, Giuliano, AJ, & Seidman, LJ. Premorbid IQ in schizophrenia: A meta-analytic review. The American Journal of Psychiatry 2008; 165: 579-587.
Woodberry, KA, Miller, AL, Glinski, J, Indik, J, & Mitchell, AG. Family therapy and dialectical behavior therapy with adolescents: Part II: A theoretical review. American Journal of Psychotherapy 2002; 56: 585-602.
RESEARCH TEAM
Merelise Ametti, PhD, MPH, Postdoctoral Fellow
Merelise is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow working with Dr. Kristen Woodberry in the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. Merelise is a clinical psychologist with specialty training in adolescent serious mental illness, autism spectrum disorders, eating disorders, and disruptive behaviors. She has extensive experience providing direct service in rural communities, including primary care, school, outpatient, and inpatient hospital settings. Through this work, she has become interested in studying social determinants of mental health and the use of mobile-based technologies for expanding access to research participation and mental health care to low-income and rural children and families. Her current research centers on the role of food insecurity in family functioning and child mental health.
Merelise received her PhD and Master’s in Public Health from the University of Vermont and completed her clinical internship at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Bernier, Research Coordinator I
Elizabeth “Eb” completed her undergraduate degree in psychology with minors in biology and honors from the University of Southern Maine. She has been involved in research on various topics, including pharmacology, behavioral psychology, and social psychology. Eb has been on Dr. Woodberry’s team since January of 2020 when she joined as a Research Intern. During her time at MaineHealth, Eb has also co-facilitated a DBT group for teens and parents at Maine Medical Center’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic and participated in the MHIR Summer Student Research Program (SSRP). Eb took on the role of Research Assistant II in May 2022. She has played an important role in team activity coordination, data management and visualization, writing of IRB materials, study recruitment and participant guidance, and literature reviews for grants and manuscripts.
Julia Plumb, Graduate Student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Maine
Julia is a first year graduate student working with Dr. Kristen Woodberry and the Woodberry lab on early detection and screening for psychosis in primary care settings, with a particular interest in rural settings.
Peter Rosencrans, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Pete joined the Woodberry Research Team as a Postdoctoral Fellow in September 2023. He completed his predoctoral internship at the Seattle VA Medical Center and earned his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Washington, where he worked under the mentorship of Dr. Lori Zoellner. During his graduate training, Pete’s research focused on improving treatments for trauma- and stressor-related disorders and adapting treatments for underserved populations. Pete has had extensive clinical training in evidence-based treatments for mood, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders and in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for adults at high risk for suicide.
On the Woodberry Research Team, Pete is involved in study coordination, program evaluation, teaching, and mentorship aimed at improving early screening for and treatment of psychosis. In addition to his time with the Research team, Pete is a clinician in MaineHealth’s PIER and Resilience early psychosis programs and the Outpatient Adult Psychiatry clinic.
Multi-Site Team for Daily Life Study