Alexandra S. Wimberly

Presenter

Dr. Alexandra S. Wimberly, PhD, LMSW, RYT-200, is a behavioral health consultant and psychotherapist. She is also a former assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Alexandra's research focuses on the development and evaluation of interventions for people with substance use disorders and associated challenges such as criminal justice involvement. She questioned the burgeoning focus on seated mindfulness meditation in substance use treatment and implemented a randomized controlled trial to pilot yoga asana for settling the body in populations experiencing acute substance use disorders. The study found that people living with HIV, and in reentry from incarceration, experienced significant reductions in both stress and substance use when randomized to yoga. Alexandra continued this work by piloting a yoga intervention for recovery among women in jail as well as by designing and piloting a mindfulness-informed intervention for women who have an opioid use disorder and are taking methadone. She believes in uplifting client choice and voice to create mind and body interventions that support people to live with greater awareness, peace, and compassion.