Kaitlyn S
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at University of South Alabama
Expertise
mental health, suicide prevention, trauma, psychological interventions, program development, prevention, violence prevention, clinical psychology, counseling psychology
Bio
I was born in South Florida where I lived with my parents, older brother, two cats and a dog until I graduated from high school (IB program). Then I completed a year at Mount Holyoke College, where I was torn between the medical sciences and literature, and running out of Great Books courses. To solve this dilemma and move closer to family, I transferred to St. John's college -- a unique, all-required Great Books program where I read the pivotal works of Western Civilization chronologically from Homer and Plato to Heidegger and Mendel. During college, I actively pursued research opportunities including a year at University of Maryland learning genetics research techniques. At that time, I wanted to pursue an MD PhD focusing on the epigenetics of psychiatric disorders. However, long story short, 'life' had other plans, and my interests shifted to clinical psychology leading me to complete a masters in psychology at Catholic University focusing on suicide prevention, and now a PhD in Clinical and Counseling Psychology and University of South Alabama. I am finishing up my last year of the program, which means wrapping up my dissertation and applying for residency. My dissertation is a meta-analysis and network analysis testing Durkheimian theories of suicide through an ecological and complexity lens. While my main area is suicide prevention, I am also passionate about the study of trauma, and really anything related to mental health and ameliorating psychological suffering. In my free time, I enjoy spending time in nature (e.g., hiking, going to the beach), seeing family and friends, swing dancing, playing with my kitten, and learning new things.Project ideas
Exploring the role of gory social media videos on teen suicide ideation and behavior
A narrative review of the impact of gory social media videos (e.g., Tok Tok, YouTube) on teen suicide ideation and behavior. Mentees would collect relevant literature on the topic, come up with an outline, and complete a narrative review for submission in a peer-reviewed academic journal. The purpose of the narrative review is it can include all kinds of previous work including quantitative and qualitative studies, and typically allows for a more creative approach. This review could cover any theoretical mechanisms that could explain the potential association between gory social media videos and suicide rates, such as suicide capability, the broad impact of social media on mental health, and trends in social media use and suicidal behavior among teens. What I like about this project is it does not require much statistical knowledge, access to statistical software, and would develop scientific curiosity and thinking on an impactful topic.
Evaluating the impact of a Positive Post-It Notes Program on High School Students' Mental Health
The vast majority of research in clinical psychology is focused on what we call downstream factors or those related to current mental health conditions and people already involved in treatment. However, its just as important to prevent mental health problems from developing! Finding ways to enhance community and social support is key to reducing the likelihood that people will develop mental health problems. Positive Post-It Note programs are pretty common in High Schools and Colleges, but only related programs (and in older samples), such as Caring Contacts, have been evaluated. You could launch such a program in your school by creating a pre- and post-program survey administered via email or text to see its impact on psychological wellbeing. If you're feeling super motivated, you could provide the same survey to another school that would not receive the intervention and compare!
