Overview

Dr. Helseth is a health services researcher and licensed clinical psychologist working to reduce the public health impact of substance use disorders through the development and dissemination of effective behavioral interventions. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Science of Child and Adolescent Psychology in 2017 from Florida International University. Dr. Helseth completed her predoctoral residency at the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston Consortium Psychology Internship Program; Child Track) and a NIAAA-funded T32 postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Dr. Helseth is currently an Assistant Professor (Research Scholar track) in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health.

Broadly, Dr. Helseth's program of research seeks to build resilience and minimize risky behavior among vulnerable youth in community settings. She pursues this objective via several complementary lines of research that span from treatment development and evaluation to widespread dissemination and community-based implementation. Her first line of research centers on the development and evaluation of evidence-based practices for youth and their families; recent work examines mobile health (mHealth) interventions to reduce substance use among juvenile justice-involved youth and adolescents in residential treatment settings. Dr. Helseth's second line of research examines interpersonal influences on risky behavior, with the long-term objective of leveraging positive peer influence within the context of behavior change interventions. Her third and final line of research examines strategies by which to increase access to and utilization of effective behavioral health services. 

Dr. Helseth is currently PI of a 5-year, NIDA-funded Early Career Award (K23DA048062) to develop and implement mHealth technologies to reduce marijuana use among court-involved, non-incarcerated youth. She is also a 2020-2022 Investigator in the Justice Community Opioid Intervention Network's (JCOIN) Learning Experiences to Advance Practice (LEAP) Program, which offers specialized training and support for researchers working to address opioid use in the criminal justice system. Dr. Helseth was a Co-Investigator on a recently-completed, NIDA-funded R34 study (R34DA039289; PI: Becker) testing a novel mHealth intervention for parents of adolescents in residential treatment for substance use disorders.

Brown Affiliations

• Behavioral and Social Sciences

Research Areas

On the Web

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