A PASSION TO CARE FOR NEW PARENTS
By Melanie Zuercher
Kristin Wedel knows from years of experience, hers and that of others, that becoming a parent can be as difficult as it is joyful – so she’s made it her life’s work to help people navigate this important transition.
Wedel, Providence, R.I., is the 2025 Young Alumnus Award winner. The award recognizes character and citizenship, achievement or service rendered, and honors and recognition received. The recipient must be 39 years of age or younger.
The award citation lifts up Wedel’s work “pioneering and leading the nation’s only specialized intensive outpatient program for perinatal Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and for
the profound impact her work has had on the lives of perinatal women, their infants and families. Kristin’s dedication to advancing maternal mental health care exemplifies innovation, compassion and excellence.”
Wedel completed a bachelor’s degree in social work at Bethel in 2008, and went immediately into a term of Mennonite Voluntary Service in San Francisco, where she was a case manager at Larkin Street Youth Services for homeless youth living with HIV/AIDS.
By 2012, she had earned her master’s degree in social work at Boston University, and had solidified her interests in perinatal and reproductive mental health, OCD and anxiety disorders, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure and response prevention (ERP).
From 2012-15, Wedel worked in some capacity as a therapist at Butler Hospital, a private, nonprofit, psychiatric and substance abuse hospital in Providence. Since 2015, she has been associated with Women & Infants Hospital, the primary teaching hospital in obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics at Brown University’s medical school.
She started out as a clinical care coordinator, serving as a therapist in the perinatal Day Hospital, the nation’s first partial hospital treating pregnant people and new parents with depression, anxiety or other emotional distress. (In 2025, Wedel presented at the annual conference of Postpartum Support International [PSI] on the lessons learned from 25 years of this innovative and groundbreaking care.)
In 2023, Wedel took a position as a clinical manager for the OCD Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). In this capacity, she co-designed and launched the Perinatal OCD IOP. As the only one of its kind in the country, the program draws patients from throughout New England.
“Pregnant women and new mothers find themselves in a whirlwind of transitions,” Wedel told a researcher in 2019. “Changes in their bodies, emotions and hormones can all contribute to acute episodes of depression and anxiety during this period in a woman’s life.”
In 2025, Wedel began a new venture, her own counseling service, KEW Counseling, continuing to focus on the particular emotional needs of pregnancy and new parenthood.
“Becoming a parent can be both joyful and overwhelming,” she says, “and it’s common to feel anxious or unsure during this major life transition. I specialize in supporting new and expecting parents who are experiencing perinatal OCD and anxiety disorders. I am passionate about helping individuals find relief from intrusive thoughts, worry and self-doubt, so they can feel more grounded and confident in their role as parent.”
Wedel also has interest and experience in teaching, which has been another part of her work at Women & Infants Hospital. She has been a didactic lecturer in perinatal OCD; a clinical supervisor and educator in CBT and ERP; a mentor and/or field instructor for MSW students, and Ph.D. clinical psychology residents and fellows; and a supervisor for graduate students from major universities in the region.
“Under her academic and clinical leadership, students and trainees from multiple disciplines have learned specific evidence-based psychotherapeutic techniques designed specifically for this patient population,” said her nominator, Margaret Howard, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and human behavior and medicine at Brown. “Kristin approaches both her clinical and supervisory work with robust expertise, clear and compassionate guidance, intelligence, passion and humor.
“She has made and will continue to make a profound impact on the lives of perinatal women, their infants and families, as well as the next generation of mental health clinicians whom she has trained.”
The 2025 alumni award winners will be honored and will speak in convocation on April 6, 2026.