Amanda Adcock is a 4th year graduate student in the clinical psychology program. Her interests are in the behavior analytic explanation of psychological phenomena and symptomology, such as suicidality, depression, substance abuse, and many other escape and avoidance strategies, as well as treatment outcomes from these approaches. She has conducted research on stimulus equivalence in behavioral and emotional problems, the positive or protective factors for resilience, such as valuing, and she is now conducting a dissertation on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for experiential avoidance.

Tiffani Allison is a senior at UNT interested specifically in BPD and interpersonal dynamics and is currently working on a paper about self-mutilation measures and will be conducting an honors thesis in the spring.

Stephanie Dennis is a post-baccalaureate student. She helped with a recently completed group treatment study for at-risk youth. She will be applying to graduate school next fall.

Jeff Geddes is currently a 4th year graduate student in the Clinical program. He completed a thesis on the relationship between relational framing, school attitudes, and academic performance. He is working on his dissertation proposal now - looking at risk and resilience factors associated with child reaction to parental military deployment.

Nikki Hernandez is a fourth year clinical student and is originally from Michigan. She received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Central Michigan University. Nikki's research and clinical interests focus on dimensional connceptualizations of psychopathology, personality features, juvenile delinquency, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Ryeshia Jackson joined the team in September of 2009. She is interested in how family violence and anxiety can be targeted with ACT.

Vaishnavi Kapadia is an undergraduate working on an honors thesis looking at the utility of ACT for at-risk youth.

Chelsea Kubiak is a senior at UNT that will be graduating in December 2009 with a BS in Psychology, a BFA in Dance and as a Distinguished Honor Scholar. Chelsea joined the North Texas Contextual Psychology lab in 2006. Since then, she has attended several ABA and ACT: Summer Institute conferences, and worked on multiple projects/posters within the lab. Currently, Chelsea is working to complete her senior thesis entitled 'Mindfulness, willingness and physical activity: Relationships and implications,' looking at the components behind why or why not individuals choose to participate in physical activity.

Cicely T. LaBorde is currently on internship at the VA in Dallas. Her dissertation in on the creation of a new measure of values, from an ACT-consistent perspective.

Christina M. Larson is a 5th year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at UNT. Christina graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Biology. Her thesis, completed under the supervision of Dr. Murrell, involved a revision of the Willingness and Action Measure for Children and Adolescents (WAM-C/A) that incorporated the use of stories to assess children's experiential willingness and committed action. Currently, she is working on her dissertation which will focus on assessment of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in children exposed to domestic violence.

Jessica Madrigal-Bauguss is a graduate student in the Clinical Health Psychology program. She is currently working on her dissertation with Dr. Murrell, looking at the effects of brief therapy analogues on health related relational framing in patients with cancer. She is also collaborating with several fellow lab mates on a values paper, and has submitted a poster abstract on the role of values in the therapeutic process to the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapy for their national conference this upcoming November. She is also working on a paper on the effect of limited hold in stimulus equivalence with the Behavior Analysis department. She is currently on internship at the Central Arkansas Veterans' Healthcare System in Little Rock, AR.

Kristi Mannon is a first year in the Clinical program. She is also working with Dr. Daniel Taylor, and she hopes to integrate ACT into an existing project on treatment of pediatric insomnia.

Karen M. O'Brien is starting her fifth year in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral program and is scheduled to propose her dissertation in late September. She will be evaluating the effectiveness of a two-day intervention for distressed parents. The intervention is based on an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) philosophy of parenting. In general, my research interests encompass ACT and related constructs and processes, including the role of verbal behavior in the development of psychopathology.

Laura Peek is graduating with a B.A. in psychology with a minor in counseling in December of 2009. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in school psychology beginning in the fall of 2010, potentially researching how anxiety disorders affect learning in gifted and talented children. Focuses include ACT with children and social influences on adolescents. Her lab work has included data collection, writing literature reviews, assisting with thesis and dissertation research, and researching social influences on adolescents. Laura is a Case Management Intern for Child and Adolescent Services at the Denton County MHMR, as well as a volunteer for Denton County Friends of the Family. She is also the visual director for the Saginaw High School Marching Band.

Jonathan E. Schmalz is a second year in the Clinical program. A functional contextual philosophy of science, informed specifically by Zen and existential philosophies, guides his experience with the field of psychology. Jon's research interests are in psychology of religion, exploring the functional commonalities of topographically dissimilar treatment interventions, and investigating the ramifications of diagnostic work in the field of psychology. His upcoming thesis will focus on this latter issue by discerning how diagnostics influence the work of therapists.

Aditi Sinha is a 3rd year Clinical Ph.D. student who recently joined Dr. Murrell's research lab. Her research interests include psychological flexibility and mindfulness as they relate to an individual's overall psychological functioning. In particular, Aditi is interested in how mindfulness and self-as-context influence the development of self and cultural identity in populations that are faced with assimilation/acculturation issues. Currently, she is in the process of working on her master's thesis which will investigate the relationship between these variables.

TAMS

Undergraduates

Graduates