Kristi Woods, BSN, RN, PMH-BC

Kristi Woods is a registered nurse whose nine-year career has centered on psychiatric-mental health care, a specialty in which she holds board certification. Her path into nursing began two years earlier, when she worked as a certified nursing assistant in nursing home and medical-surgical environments, laying the practical groundwork for the clinical roles that followed. Over the course of her career, she moved through a wide range of settings, including inpatient medical-surgical floating, adult and geriatric psychiatric units, outpatient medication clinic work with children and adults, and psychiatric emergency and charge nurse responsibilities, eventually stepping into a nursing supervisor role overseeing an adult inpatient mental health and substance abuse unit. She also spent time as an adjunct professor teaching mental health clinical coursework within the University of Maine system.

Kristi earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, along with a minor in psychology, from the University of Maine between 2009 and 2014, and she continues to hold an active Maine nursing license with compact privileges through the Maine State Board of Nursing. In late 2023, after her health had been declining for some time, she stepped away from clinical practice due to disability related to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a condition that left her bed-bound for months following a COVID-19 infection.

Rather than stepping back from her field entirely, Kristi redirected her clinical knowledge toward volunteer advocacy and public education. Through her work with ME Action, she communicates with government officials and legislators and writes op-eds aimed at improving funding and public understanding of ME/CFS. She has also partnered with organizations such as Hanley Leadership and the Bateman Horne Center to develop continuing-education materials that help doctors, nurses, and advanced practice providers better recognize and treat the condition. Supported by her family and partner, she continues to pursue flexible advocacy and education opportunities that allow her to put her nursing expertise to use despite the constraints of her illness.