Guest: Nena Butterfield, Psychiatric RN and Director of Resource Development & Community Relations

Kindred Conversations with Aubrey Baptista

Nena obtained her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Bristol in England in 2010 in the field of executive function in children with autism. She completed a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Alabama where she assisted in diagnostics at the Alabama Autism Clinic, managed the University of Alabama Intellectual Disabilities Participant Registry, and was formally trained in grant writing for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). In 2012, at the conclusion of her postdoctoral fellowship, she returned to her stomping grounds in Western Carolina. As an adult child of addiction and someone with a keen interest in the clinical side of psychology, she joined the Pavillon Admissions Team in 2012. After 2 years working in Admissions and as The Director of the Children of Addiction Program at Pavillon she worked as a Director of Behavioral Modification and Family Support Services at a Community Mental Health Center in Greenville, SC for 2 years while pursuing a BSN at USC Upstate.
She worked as a Psychiatric RN in various departments for the last 4 years. Most recently, she worked in urban areas of Massachusetts, with a focus on emergency mental healthcare and crisis intervention for homeless populations suffering from substance use and mental health disorders. She brings 15 years of behavioral health and research experience upon her return to Pavillon, where she now works as Director of Resource Development and Community Relations. Nena’s current research interest and investment topics include examining patterns of cognition and intelligence in physicians suffering from addiction, the impact of adverse childhood events on addiction outcomes and co-occurring mental health disorders, and how information from clinical data surrounding these topics informs high-quality care moving forward. In collaboration with Pavillon’s Innovation, Training, and Research Department, Nena contributes to the authorship of peer-reviewed articles, original experimental work, and presentation of findings on these topics on a national level.
Nena grew up in Polk County, NC, and is dedicated to community outreach and enriching the quality of life, especially for the underserved populations, of Polk and surrounding Western Carolina counties. She is pursuing her Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) and looks forward to contributing to Pavillon’s clinical, development, and community outreach goals.

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