current members
Jonathan Mohr, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Counseling Psychology Program and Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. His main research program focuses on manifestations of stigma, discrimination, and stereotypes, particularly with respect to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. Some of his work is on the experiences of individuals from stigmatized groups, whereas some is on attitudes and behaviors toward members of stigmatized groups. He has a secondary research program on interpersonal relationships, with an emphasis on romantic relationships and the psychotherapy relationship. These two lines of scholarship intersect in his writing on same-sex couples and psychotherapy with LGB clients. His work draws from theoretical perspectives in social and personality psychology, including attachment theory, minority stress theory, and theories of collective identity formation. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice & Training.
Eddie Chong, M.S., entered Maryland's doctoral program in counseling psychology in 2014. His research interests broadly include issues related to stigmatized groups (sexual minorities in particular) across the lifespan and cultures. More recently, he has been interested in examining systemic factors that influence individuals' well-being and community cohesion. He also is interested in identifying effective stigma coping strategies and resilience process of such groups. He is currently participating in a longitudinal study of conflicts in allegiances among LGBQ Asian Americans, an experimental study on stigma-based solidarity, and a scale development study about internalized homonegativity.
Colleen Kase, M.S., entered Maryland's doctoral program in counseling psychology in 2016. Her research interests are centered around LGBT mental health, and she is particularly interested in the well-being and identity development of traditionally understudied gender and sexual minority groups. She is currently participating in several research studies, including an experience-sampling study of plurisexual women's disclosure experiences, a longitudinal study of conflicts in allegiances among LGBQ Asian Americans, a scale development study about internalized homonegativity, and a scale development study about fat acceptance.
Nina Parekh is an undergraduate double-degree candidate, pursuing a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Theatre. A member of the Psychology Honors program, she will be graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park in May of 2020. Her research interests are centered around women’s interpersonal relationships and trauma experiences. She is currently conducting research focused on the experiences of bisexual+ women’s friendships and sexual identity disclosure on individual and dyadic wellbeing. Nina aspires to pursue a degree in counseling psychology in order to work with victims of intimate partner violence.
Alumni
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Elissa Sarno, Ph.D., entered Maryland's doctoral program in counseling psychology in 2012. Her research interests are in LGBT mental health. During her time at Maryland, she participated in research on conflicts in allegiances, which aims to explore the experiences of individuals who subscribe to multiple minority identities, particularly LGB people of color. She also used daily dairy data to investigate correlates of sexual risk-taking behavior. She is currently a post-doctoral scholar at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University.
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Skyler Jackson, Ph.D., entered Maryland's doctoral program in counseling psychology in 2011. His research interests focus on relations among social identity, stigma-related stress, and health -- with an emphasis on using intersectional theory to understand the unique experiences of individuals holding multiple marginalized identities. During his time at Maryland, Skyler worked on a case study of emotional distress and coping among LGBTQ students after the Orlando mass shooting, a qualitative study of body image maintenance among Black women, and a series of quantitative studies concerning identity conflict and mental health among sexual minority people of color. He is currently an NIMH post- doctoral fellow through Yale University's Interdisciplinary HIV Prevention Training Program.