Graduate Spotlight: Mady Cline, PhD

May 12, 2025

Graduate Spotlight: Madelyn Strong-Cline, BSN, RN, DNP-PMHNP

The BH WELL team is proud to recognize Dr. Madelyn Cline as she graduates from UK with her Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) with a focus on the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Practitioner concentration (PMHNP). Dr. Cline has been a long-standing partner and BH WELL team member since her time as an undergraduate, contributing to a wide range of projects and consistently showing dedication to advancing mental health care.

Dr. Cline’s interest in psychiatric nursing began early—she’s known since eighth grade that she wanted to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Her motivation has remained consistent: to support individuals who may not be able to advocate for themselves and to help improve their quality of life.

During her time at UK, Dr. Cline focused on the effects of secondary traumatic stress on healthcare workers and worked to create spaces for recovery and reflection, including a garden at UK HealthCare meant to benefit both staff and patients. Her clinical experience as an ICU nurse also shaped her perspective on the importance of advocacy—not just for patients, but also for their families during critical moments.

At BH WELL, Dr. Cline collaborated on multiple projects including the development and evaluation of provider and patient tobacco education materials, interviewing patients, producing blogs and vlogs, and participating in conference presentations and campus wellness events. One of her most memorable projects involved collaborating with other departments at UK to create inclusive coloring books, which helped expand her creative skillset and offered a new perspective on public health communication.

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BH WELL Executive director, Dr. Zim Okoli, shares, “Ever since her undergraduate involvement with BH WELL, Dr. Cline demonstrated incredible empathy, a passion for psychiatric-mental health nursing, and exceptional leadership qualities. Her accomplishments are a demonstration of her persistence, hard work, and ability to grasp opportunities to share her exceptional qualities in different settings. We are deeply grateful for all her contributions to BH WELL and look forward to continued partnership with her in going forward.”

Reflecting on her experience, Dr. Cline shared that her time at BH WELL helped push her beyond her comfort zone and provided a platform to grow both professionally and personally. Over the years, she also had the opportunity to participate in national and international conferences and helped support BH WELL’s partnership with a college of nursing in China.

Dr. Cline will continue her work at UK HealthCare as a psychiatric nurse practitioner and pursue a post-doctorate certificate in acute care. She has also been named President-Elect of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (KY APNA), taking over the role from BH WELL team member Sarret Seng.

We thank Dr. Cline for her years of commitment to BH WELL and know she will excel as a PMHNP!