BRITTANY N. WINTERS

Brittany N. Winters is the regional psychology services administrator for the western region of the United States Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons, where she oversees all psychology services assessment and programming for the region’s 19 federal prisons. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in suicide prevention, resiliency training, and personality disorder treatment, and her bilingual skills have allowed her to provide mental health services to clients in both English and Spanish for more than a decade. Previously Dr. Winters served as deputy chief psychologist at ADX Florence in Colorado, the United States’ only maximum-security prison.

Early in her career, Dr. Winters gained experience in the psychology field through externships at such treatment centers as the emergency psychiatry unit at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and Harbor–UCLA Medical Center. Beginning in 2012 she worked as a forensic assessment clerk in the sex offender treatment unit at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino, California. She joined the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2013 and has served in various roles in California, Arizona, and Colorado until assuming her current position in 2021.

At Dr. Winters’ recommendation, the Bureau of Prisons has used virtual reality equipment for clinical treatment in maximum-security facilities, merging the modern technology with more classic interventions such as mindfulness to support inmates with trauma-related illnesses and to reduce deaths by suicide. Her expertise has been called upon by multiple law enforcement entities to conduct reviews of federal correctional facilities, assist in training staff, and assess risk management. Dr. Winters’ successful efforts to implement evidence-based mental health treatment measures in correctional facilities have earned her a nomination for the Outstanding Federal Law Enforcement Employee award from the Women in Federal Law Enforcement Foundation.

Brittany Winters received two bachelor’s degrees, in Spanish and political science, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2005. In 2010 she earned her master of arts in psychology and in 2014 her doctor of psychology from the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology.