Lauren Currie began her PhD in Counselling Psychology in September 2020. Her research interests include addictions counselling, trauma, and forensic psychology. Lauren completed her M.A. in Counselling Psychology in May 2020 and her thesis examined the psychometric properties of a hope based measure for career with an addictions population. Her doctoral research will be on the topic of addiction and identity.
Syler Hayes joined the lab as a PhD student in 2019. His dissertation project is focused on the transitions that occur in recovery from addiction. Beyond addiction, his research interests include: emotional coping, campus mental health, and the process of counselling. His Master’s thesis was on overcoming learned helplessness in academic environments. His poster presentation for his thesis won the Best Master’s Poster Award for Counselling Psychology at the International Congress for Applied Psychology in 2018. He published a guide on peer support at post-secondary campuses with Healthy Minds | Health Campuses and co-authored a book chapter about clients’ perspectives on the working alliance in counselling.
Jessica Ahn completed her BSc. Psychology at McGill University in December 2018. Her research interests include stigma towards counselling, how cultural factors influence help-seeking behavior, and forensic psychology. She joined the lab in May 2019 as a volunteer and joined the MA program in Counselling Psychology in September 2023. Her thesis pertains to investigating help-seeking for psychotherapy by Korean individuals using the lens of Frank’s common factors model.
Jennifer Lingbaoan began her MA in Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia in September 2019. Through her thesis, she hopes to explore the implications of a contextual model of counselling amongst a sample of Filipino participants. A Psychology Honours and Counselling Minor graduate from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, her undergraduate thesis focused on cultural frame-switching and meaning in life among a sample of Filipino and Western bicultural participants. Her primary research interests are in the areas of cultural psychology, community psychology, positive psychology, and knowledge translation.
Virginia Dreier began her MA in Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia in September 2019 (under the supervision of Dr. Beth Haverkamp) and joined the lab in January 2020. Her research interests include multicultural and cross-cultural counselling, grief, transitions and wellbeing–especially concerning international student and immigrant populations. As an undergraduate at Oberlin College in Ohio, her research in ethnography included how Buddhist and Christian beliefs impacted environmental attitudes and practices, travelling to India, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan for research. Her volunteer work in the lab relates to a project exploring the religious competencies of various mental health professionals in collaboration with Dr. Betty Cardona from the University of Northern Colorado. She graduated from the MA program in 2022 and continued volunteering in the lab on this project after graduation.
Maria Stahre began volunteering with the lab as a research assistant in May 2018. She began her MA in Counselling Psychology in September 2020. Her research interests are focused on the intersection of gender, race, sexuality, and religion on counselling outcomes. Maria’s thesis will investigate the potential bias of counsellors against prospective Sikh clients.
Teresa Maynes completed her MA in Counseling from Boise State University in Idaho, USA. She joined the lab in September 2021 and is completing her PhD in Counselling Psychology. Her research interests include addictions counselling, domestic violence/sexual assault, and spirituality. Her dissertation project will study the impact of a hope-based career counselling intervention for individuals with addiction.
Satoko Nagashima is an undergraduate psychology student at UBC. She joined the lab in October of 2021 as a volunteer research assistant for a study on implicit bias against Muslims and South Asians. Currently, she is a directed studies student working on a qualitative research study that looks at the effectiveness of different counselling approaches used with Punjabi Sikh clients based on multiple case study analysis.
Debopriya Sen began her MA in Counseling Psychology at the University of British Columbia in September, 2022. Her research interests include cross-cultural psychology, culturally-suited counselling modalities for South Asian populations, and traditional healing methods. Her thesis research focuses on understanding attitudes towards seeking counselling within India and factors influencing such attitudes.
Research not Rhetoric, Proof not Politics, Evidence not Emotion, Doubt not Dogma.
“Without critical thinking, this is not education but indoctrination. I do not want to teach you what to think but how to think…for yourself.“
“Confusion is a precursor to discovery.”
“Great minds do not always think alike.” (Heterodox Academy)
“The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism.” (William Osler)