Research Projects
Our research focuses on understanding and improving adolescent mental health and supporting families. This work utilizes multi-method approaches, including longitudinal surveys, ecological momentary assessment, lab-based tasks, and digital health interventions to answer challenging questions about mental health in youth and families.
Emotion Regulation After Psychiatric Hospitalization
The ability to cope with stress and manage difficult emotions is central to mental health and well-being. This study aims to better understand how teens use emotion regulation skills during the period after a child's psychiatric hospitalization. Funded by the NIMH, we used ecological momentary assessments, clinical interviews, surveys, and lab-based tasks to better characterize the role of emotion regulation in mental health during a major clinical transition.
Developing a Digital Health Intervention for Parents of High-Risk Teens
We know parents and caregivers need support when their child is in crisis. Yet, we have limited evidence-based resources to support parents/caregivers during periods of high clinical risk. In this NIMH-funded study, we are developing and testing a fully automated text-messaging program for parents after their child's emergency department visit for a psychiatric emergency. We hope to equip parents with psychoeducation and skills to manage their own emotions and support their child in the aftermath of a mental health crisis.
Understanding Mental Health Disclosures in Families
Clinical providers instruct youth to talk to a trusted adult if they experience suicidal thoughts or engage in self-harm. However, we know that teens are not always comfortable talking with parents or other adults about these thoughts and behaviors. In collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Fox and Dr. Taylor Burke, we are conducting a series of studies with teens and parents to better understand suicide and self-harm related disclosures. We hope to develop tools to support families in having these difficult conversations to reduce youth suicide risk and improve parent-child communication.
Meet the Team
Director
Alex Bettis, Ph.D. (she/her)
Dr. Bettis is a licensed clinical psychologist and the director of the REST Lab. Read more about her background, training, and expertise here.
Clinical Translational Research Coordinator
Rachel Marlowe, M.Ed. (she/her)
Rachel is a Clinical Translational Research Coordinator for the REST Lab. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Emory University in 2020 and her Master's degree in Education in the Child Studies program at Vanderbilt University in 2022. Her research interests include understanding factors related to risk for depression in teens and families, including emotion regulation processes and neural predictors.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Jenna Robbins, M.S. (she/her)
Jenna (Mayes) Robbins, M.S., is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the REST Lab. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2020 and her Master's degree in Psychology from Western Kentucky University in 2022. Her research interests include child and adolescent development and and interventions to support parents of youth at risk for suicide.
Recognizing and Enhancing Community Health (REACH) Youth Advisory Board
I co-founded and co-lead the REACH Youth Advisory Board, a board comprised of teens with lived experiences of depression, suicide, and/or self-harm who are interested in clinical research. The REACH Board meets monthly to discuss clinical research ideas, studies, results, and ideas for research dissemination, with the ultimate goal of uplifting the voices of teens with lived experience and engaging them in our research. Read more about the REACH Board and our leadership team here.
We also co-authored an Editorial for the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psycopathology with the REACH Youth Advisory Board members discussing key challenges and potential strategies to engage youth in clinical science.
