Service
A commitment to advocacy and service are the foundation of my work, and I am passionate about opportunities to work alongside community partners and service organizations to improve mental healthcare.
Refugee Resettlement in Colorado
More than 120 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide. Refugees face unique challenges in resettlement, to include navigating housing, unemployment, school enrollment, public transportation, limited financial resources, healthcare systems, and more. As a refugee youth mentor with Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountain Refugee Resettlement Agency since 2022, I have worked with young girls from Afghanistan and their families to navigate cultural and academic challenges, provide psychosocial support, facilitate connection to community resources, and set goals for the future. Additionally, I routinely provide staff and volunteer trainings to local organizations serving displaced populations to educate personnel on issues of trauma-informed care and secondary traumatization.
UCCS Psychology Diversity Committee
The Psychology Department Diversity Committee exists to catalyze the members of its university community to foster inclusion, equity, and diversity. As an inaugural member, I have worked alongside faculty and students to develop vision and strategy initiatives. This has included creating a website, developing and collating resources, launching and creating quarterly newsletters, writing editorials, holding events, and carrying out department-wide special projects. For example, in 2023 we carried out an audit of all Psychology Department course syllabi according to a DEI-centered rubric that we developed, and provide consequent feedback to faculty and instructors.
Public Speaking
I am passionate about community engagement and education; to affect meaningful change, scholars must ensure that valuable dissemination and discourse take place alongside community stakeholders. I have been invited to speak and provide to trainings for myriad local organizations including the Colorado District Attorneys Council, University of Colorado Healthcare System, Centura Healthcare System, Trauma Survivors Network, Psychological Society of the Pikes Peak Region, Lutheran Family Services Refugee Resettlement, and Changing the Narrative Domestic Violence Coalition. Most of my presentations focus on the impact of trauma within marginalized communities, and use of trauma-informed care when serving diverse populations (especially refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers).
International Humanitarian Aid
From 2018-2019 I was honored to serve as the Director of Research and Development for One Light Global - a international humanitarian aid organization with a mission to create replicable, scalable models of an inclusive, egalitarian and regenerative future for all. I managed data collection, organization, and analysis for ongoing global projects, researched current aid gaps and emerging best practices, and developed staff/volunteer trainings on trauma informed-care and vicarious traumatization. Most of my work focused on women’s economic programs in Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda, with additional projects concerning food security and cultural preservation in the Hopi Nation of Arizona.
ISTSS Research Methods Special Interest Group
I was privileged to serve a two-year tenure as Student Co-Chair of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Special Interest Group (ISTSS RM-SIG). Through my role I coordinated networking among members and cultivated professional development opportunities within the ISTSS community specialized in research methods, created and disseminated a quarterly newsletter focused on cutting-edge research methodologies, and led periodic trainings and consultation groups on the use of latent mixture modeling (LCA/LPA).