Dr. Maxwell has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ottawa. During her doctoral studies, she completed clinical training at several hospital and community programs where she worked with people presenting with a range of mental health difficulties. Dr. Maxwell completed her pre-doctoral residency at The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre where she worked primarily with military veterans and RCMP who had operational stress injuries. After graduating, she worked as a psychologist at The Royal’s Operational Stress Injury Clinic and in private practice. Since moving to Brockville, she has continued to work in private practice and she also works as a psychologist and clinical consultant at The Royal’s Ontario Structured Psychotherapy program.

Over the past decade, Dr. Maxwell has worked on applied clinical research and program evaluation that have informed clinical practice. For example, she led a program evaluation that examined the treatment needs and perspectives of female military veterans and RCMP to inform how services might better suit their needs. She also led a program evaluation to understand moral injury in older adult military veterans and RCMP seeking clinical services, of which she presented the results at the Canadian Institute for Military and Veterans Health Research Forum.

Dr. Maxwell’s applied doctoral research contributed to our knowledge of how intrapersonal factors like adult attachment (which impacts, for example, how we regulate our emotions and our behaviour) affect people’s interactions with others, their relationships and their mental health. Her research also contributed to our knowledge of what happens interpersonally in therapy, and how therapists can use the process of therapy to better understand their clients and facilitate change for their clients. Dr. Maxwell’s research is published in book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles, listed below.

Dr. Maxwell enjoys learning and she continues her professional development through supervision, consultation, workshops, coursework, conferences, and reviewing the scientific literature. She is registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario in Clinical Psychology. She work with adults and adolescents of college and university age.