Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Olivia Bolts earned her B.A. and M.A. in psychology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she worked with Dr. Nora Noel researching alcohol use, sexual coercion risk recognition, and cannabis protective behavioral strategies. Before her M.A., Olivia gained clinical and research experience at Calvary Mater Hospital and the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, and in inpatient psychiatric and addiction treatment in North Carolina. These experiences solidified her commitment to clinical psychology and advancing science to improve the continuum of care across diverse settings and recovery pathways. Olivia pursued her Ph.D. in psychology at Colorado State University with the mentorship of Dr. Mark Prince, where she also completed training in substance use disorder identification and treatment. Her research has focused on substance use and harm reduction, with an emphasis on cannabis protective behavioral strategies. Currently, Olivia is completing her clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is working with Drs. Jane Metrik and Rachel Gunn at Brown’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS), investigating prenatal cannabis use and protective strategies, alcohol and cannabis co-use, and use among clinical populations and Veterans. After her pre-doctoral internship, Olivia will join the University of Colorado School of Medicine (Anschutz Medical Campus) to work with Dr. Kent Hutchison and continue advancing cannabis research and addiction science. She expresses deep gratitude to her mentors, friends, family, Enzo, and her cats, as well as appreciation for those impacted by addiction and those on recovery journeys.