Dr. Kathryn Roeder

Katie Roeder

DIRECTOR OF RO DBT SERVICES

Dr. Kathryn Roeder is a licensed clinical psychologist and the Director of Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO DBT) Services at the Boston Child Study Center. She specializes in treating adolescents and adults with mood disorders, PTSD, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, emotion dysregulation, perfectionism, and excessive self-control. Dr. Roeder is intensively trained in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT), prolonged exposure for PTSD (DBT-PE), and cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT).

Dr. Roeder graduated with honors from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in psychology. Following graduation, she worked as a research assistant at the University of Michigan Depression Center and the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, where she contributed to research projects to reduce suicide risk among veterans and develop adjunctive treatments for individuals with chronic depression. She completed her graduate studies at Vanderbilt University, earning a Doctorate of Psychology with a specialization in child and adolescent psychology. Throughout graduate school, Dr. Roeder’s research and clinical training focused on peer victimization and the development of depression and suicide risk in children and adolescents.

Dr. Roeder completed her predoctoral internship at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in Chicago, IL and her postdoctoral fellowship at BCSC, where she received intensive clinical training and supervision in DBT, CBT, RO DBT, and exposure-based therapies.

One of Dr. Roeder’s clinical interests is treating adolescents and young adults with emotional overcontrol. Self-control is typically viewed as a positive trait; however, when it comes to self-control, sometimes we can have too much of a good thing! Excessive self-control, or overcontrol, can lead to emotional suffering and social disconnection, and it is associated with chronic depression, anorexia nervosa, chronic anxiety, certain types of personality disorders, and perfectionism. Dr. Roeder is the first psychologist in New England to be intensively trained in radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT), an evidence-based treatment specifically developed for individuals with emotional overcontrol. Dr. Roeder won a competitive RO Clinician Scholar Award to support advanced training and supervision in RO DBT and leads the RO DBT program at BCSC.

Dr. Roeder’s clinical background is deeply connected to her approach to culturally responsive and affirming treatment. Both DBT and RO DBT strongly emphasize the role of the environment in shaping behavior, and both feature mindfulness as a tool to increase awareness of biases, assumptions, and judgments. RO DBT places particular emphasis on using mindfulness to increase openness, receptivity to feedback (especially painful feedback!), humility, and willingness to question deeply held beliefs. As a white, cisgender clinician, Dr. Roeder is committed to increasing her awareness of her own biases and knowledge gaps, taking responsibility for changing non-affirming and non-inclusive behaviors, and fostering a safe and welcoming treatment environment for all clients.