Meghan A. Collins, MS, MPhil
Doctoral Psychology Intern
Meghan Collins is a Doctoral Intern in Clinical Psychology at CHC and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. She is particularly interested in working with children and families impacted by complex trauma, as well as those experiencing depression, anxiety and/or interpersonal conflict. Meghan believes in taking a person-centered approach in which children and families feel empowered to reflect on and share how their background, experiences, and identities impact the challenges and strengths that they bring into therapy. She flexibly integrates family systems and interpersonal approaches with techniques derived from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), parent management training (PMT), motivational interviewing, and other approaches to meet the needs of each unique family. She is also passionate about working with trauma-impacted young children and has received training in child parent psychotherapy (CPP) and assessment approaches for children ages 0-5. Meghan is deeply committed to mental health advocacy and increasing access to high-quality, culturally responsive mental health care for underserved families.
Meghan graduated from Vanderbilt University with a BS in cognitive studies and honors in neuroscience. She then spent two years at the National Institute of Mental health as an Intramural Research Training Awardee (IRTA) studying clinical, neurocognitive, and functional brain dynamics among adolescents and young adults with autism. Meghan completed her Master of Science (MS) and her Master of Philosophy (MS) at Yale and is currently in her sixth and final year in Yale’s Clinical Psychology Doctoral Training Program. In May 2022, Meghan successfully defended her dissertation examining how trauma, poverty, discrimination, and other forms of adversity impact brain development and mental health outcomes among youth at clinical high-risk for psychosis.
Meghan enjoys spending time outdoors hiking and biking, listening to audiobooks, traveling, cooking and watching comedy/drama TV shows. Meghan is a true llama llover and frequently finds ways to bring llama-related content into her work with children!
Education
- Bachelor of Science, Vanderbilt University (2015)
- Master of Science, Yale University (2019)
- Master of Philosophy, Yale University (2020)
Awards
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Recent Presentations
- Collins, M.A., Ji, J.L., Chung, Y., Lympus, C.A., Afriyie-Agyemang, Y., Addington, J., … & Cannon, T.D. (April 2022). Accelerated cortical thinning precedes and predicts conversion to psychosis: The NAPLS3 longitudinal study of youth at clinical high-risk. Presentation at the Schizophrenia International Research Society Annual Meeting in Florence, Italy.
- Collins, M.A. (October 2020). Understanding social cognitive and neural factors underlying psychosis: The role of perceived discrimination and brain structure. Presentation in the Current Work in Clinical Psychology series, Yale University.
- Collins, M.A., Anderson, K.M., Holmes, A.J. (September 2019). Community-level resources associate with individual variability in brain anatomy. Society for Research in Psychopathology, Buffalo, NY.
- Collins, M.A., Anderson, K.M., Chin, R., Holmes, A.J. (November 2018). Neural signatures of genetic and socioeconomic risk for psychiatric illness. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
- Collins, M.A., Anderson, K.M., Chin, R., Holmes, A.J. (September 2018). Neural signatures of economic deprivation and genetic risk for depression. Society for Research in Psychopathology Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.
Publications
- Baskin-Sommers, A.,* Simmons, C.,* Conley, M., Chang, S.A., Estrada, S., Collins, M.A., … & Casey, B.J. (2021). Adolescent civic engagement: Lessons from Black Lives Matter. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (41).
- Collins, M.A., Chung, Y., Addington, J., Bearden, C.E., Cadenhead, K.S., Cornblatt, B.A., … & Cannon, T.D. (2021). Discriminatory experiences predict neuroanatomical changes and anxiety among healthy individuals and those at clinical high risk for psychosis. NeuroImage: Clinical (31), 102757.
- Aberizk, K.,* Collins, M.A.,* Addington, J., Bearden, C.E., Cadenhead, K.S., Cornblatt, B.A., … & Walker, E.F. (2021). Life event stress and reduced cortical thickness in youth at clinical high-risk for psychosis and healthy controls. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
- Anderson, K.M., Collins, M.A., Kong, R., Fang, K., Li, J., He, T., … & Holmes, A.J. (2020). Convergent molecular, cellular, and cortical neuroimaging signatures of major depressive disorder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117 (40), 25138-25149.
- Anderson, K.M., Collins, M.A., Chin, R., Ge, T., Rosenberg, M.D., & Holmes, A.J. (2020). Transcriptional and imaging-genetic association of cortical interneurons, brain function, and schizophrenia risk. Nature Communications, 11 (1), 1-15.
- Avery, J.A., Ingeholm, J.E., Wohltjen, S., Collins, M.A., Riddell, C.D., Gotts, S.J., Kenworthy, L., Wallace, G.L., Simmons, W.K., Martin, A. (2018). Neural correlates of taste reactivity in autism spectrum disorder. Neuroimage: Clinical, 19, 38-46.
