Meagan Knowles, PhD, received her BA in psychology from Meredith College and her PhD in school psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her doctoral internship with 3-C Family Services and 3-C Institute. Her training interests and foci are on individual and group therapy; personality, psychological, and educational assessment; and research on implementation science to bridge the research to practice gap.
Dr. Knowles received two years of training as a school psychologist extern with Guilford County Schools and the Wake County Public School System. During this time, she gained experience working with exceptional children including children with learning disabilities, ADHD, emotional behavioral disorders, and autism. She also worked closely with school administrators, teachers, and parents to ensure appropriate placement and services so children could reach their highest academic potential. During her third and fourth year, she gained clinical experience at Whitaker Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (Central Regional Hospital, Butner, NC) and the UNC Psychiatry Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic (formerly Dorothea Dix, Raleigh, NC). Dr. Knowles conducted individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychotherapy, and play therapy with children, adolescents, and parents. She also helped lead CBT and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) group therapy. Dr. Knowles has worked with children and adolescents with serious mental disorders including anxiety, depression, reactive attachment disorder, adjustment disorder, conduct disorder, and personality disorders. She has also conducted diagnostic intakes at the Wake Pediatric Behavior Clinic to facilitate behavioral and medication management.
Prior to interning with 3-C Family Services, Dr. Knowles was a research assistant for 3C Institute for three years. She helped develop and research the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions for children with social and behavioral deficits. Dr. Knowles also worked in the Implementation Science Department which researches how to effectively implement interventions in multiple settings. She has helped develop and research interventions which are now used in public schools and mental health clinics not only in the United States, but around the world.
Dr. Knowles has completed intensive training in DBT through Behavioral Tech, LLC . She is an active member of the DBT consultation team at 3-C Family Services and leads the middle school age DBT group at 3-C Family Services.