JOANNA BETTMANN BETTMANN SCHAEFER

Joanna Bettmann Schaefer received her B.A. with honors from Dartmouth College in 1993, her MSW from the University of Utah in 1999, and her Ph.D from Smith College School for Social Work in 2005. Dr. Schaefer has received numerous honors, including the 2025 Rosalind Franklin Society Special Award in Science, the 2025 Eagle Award from the National Association for Therapeutic Schools and Programs, the 2023 Betty van der Smitten Distinguished Researcher Award from the Association for Experiential Education, the 2019 Council on Social Work Education's Summer Scholarship for Harvard Institutes of Harvard Education, the 2013 Dean's Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Utah College of Social Work, the 2011 Psychoanalytic Psychodynamic Research Society Award, and the 1993 Lawrence Marx Jr. Award of Dartmouth College. 

She worked as a field staff, field therapist, director, and researcher at wilderness therapy and residential treatment settings for adolescents in crisis from 1994 to 2016. She has also worked as a clinical social worker in several community mental health agencies, the University of Utah Counseling Center, and in private practice. She is trained in disaster response and served as a social worker for the American Red Cross response to Hurricane Katrina in Utah and Mississippi. She serves as clinical faculty in the University of Utah department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Schaefer writes and researches on a range of topics, including nature's impact on mental health, wilderness therapy, residential treatment, and attachment. She is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Experiential Education. She has published articles in Psychological Services, Journal of Child and Family Studies, Research on Social Work Practice, Journal of Counseling Psychology, International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, Journal of Experiential Education, Child and Youth Care Forum, Clinical Social Work Journal, Residential Treatment for Children and Youth, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. She authored the book Evidence-based psychotherapy with adolescents: A primer for new clinicians (published by Oxford University Press in 2019). She also co-edited the book Attachment-based clinical work with children and adolescents (published by Springer in 2012). She has presented her research nationally and internationally at professional conferences over the last 20 years. Dr. Schaefer has received grant funding to support her research agenda, including grants from the Sierra Club to investigate the mental health and psychosocial outcomes of peer-led immersive wilderness trips for military veterans.