Christina M. Sellers

Christina M. Sellers is a licensed clinical social worker. Her practice experience includes delivering brief motivational interviewing interventions for adolescents at risk for suicide with co-occurring substance use. Dr. Sellers has expertise in clinical interventions with at-risk youth and training in intervention research and implementation science. Her research is at the intersection of substance use and suicide. The goal of her program of research is to develop and test interventions for substance use and suicide among adolescents in a variety of different settings and to develop and test pedagogical approaches to training social workers in suicide prevention skills. Dr. Sellers has been funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

Education

• PhD, Boston College School of Social Work (2018)

License/Certifications

• LCSW

Courses

SW441 Social Work Research
SW464 Understanding Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention
SW509 Evaluation in Social Work Practice
SW624 Intervention Research

Research

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
YIG-1-165-20
Integrated Suicide and Substance Use Intervention for Adolescents in Substance Use Treatment.

Select Publications

Sellers, C. M., Gavis-Hughson, S.*, Díaz-Valdés Iriarte, A., Dacey, E.*, & Collin, C. R. (2025). Online Patient Simulation for Suicide Risk Assessment: Assessing Skills and Confidence in MSW students. Social Work Education.

O’Brien, K., Sellers, C. M., Spirito, A., Yen, S., & Braciszewski, J. (2025). An integrated alcohol and suicide intervention for adolescents in inpatient psychiatric treatment. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 55(2), e13143.

Baiden, P., LaBrenz, C. A., & Sellers, C. M. (2025). Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Self-Reported Physician-Diagnosed Depression: The Moderating Effect of Race/Ethnicity. Public Health, 241, 171-178.

Diaz-Valdes, A., Sellers, C. M., Medina, J.T., Ponce, J., Calvo, E., & Gavis-Hughson, S.* (2025). Testing the Mediating Mechanism of Alcohol Use on the Association between Retirement and Depressive Symptoms in the United States using Generalized Mixed Effect Models. Journal of Aging and Mental Health, 10, 1-9.

Sellers, C. M., & O’Brien, K. (2024). A Call to Prioritize Integrated Suicide Interventions in Adolescent Substance Use Treatment. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 24(1), 88-95.

Rosales, R., Sellers, C. M., Santos, B., Lee, C., O’Brien, K. H., & Colby, S. (2023). Examining Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association of Victimization and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors with Alcohol Use Among Sexual Minority Youth. LGBT Health, 10(2), 109-120.

Sellers, C. M., Díaz-Valdés Iriarte, A., Porter, A., Glenn, C., Miller, A., Wyman Battalen, A., & O’Brien, K. H. (2021). Nonsuicidal self-injury, suicide planning, and suicide attempts among high-risk adolescents prior to psychiatric hospitalization. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(11), 1503-1511.