Jun 13, 2022 | Article
In the ninth year of TPC‘s Dissertation Excellence Award program, the award was expanded to include two winning dissertations, one in qualitative research and one in quantitative research. After receiving submissions from across the United States and through implementation of an improved selection process, the committee selected Anabel Mifsud and Chelsey Zoldan-Calhoun to receive the 2022 Dissertation Excellence Awards. Dr. Mifsud received the award in qualitative research for her dissertation entitled Exploring Community- and Society-Level Interventions for Healing Historical Trauma: A Grounded Theory Study, and Dr. Zoldan-Calhoun received the award in quantitative research for her work entitled The Contribution of Spiritual Well-Being to the Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Burnout of Substance Use Disorder Counselors.
Anabel Mifsud, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor of professional practice in the counselor education program at the University of New Orleans. She earned her PhD in counselor education and supervision from the University of New Orleans and her MSc in health psychology from University College London and King’s College London. Dr. Mifsud’s research interests include historical and intergenerational trauma; multicultural issues; social justice and advocacy; the internationalization of counseling and counselor education; the role of counseling in community healing and development; and behavioral health services for immigrants, refugees, and persons with HIV. She has worked with individuals and couples experiencing homelessness and comorbid issues, persons with HIV, immigrants, and asylum seekers. Dr. Mifsud has presented at local, state, national, and international conferences and seminars and has published articles and book chapters on social justice, immigrants, and counseling ethics.
Chelsey Zoldan-Calhoun, PhD, NCC, LPCC-S, LICDC, earned her MSEd in clinical mental health counseling from Youngstown State University and her PhD in counselor education and supervision from the University of Akron. She is an adjunct faculty member in both the Department of Psychological Sciences and Counseling at Youngstown State University and the School of Counseling at the University of Akron. She enjoys teaching courses on diagnosis, counseling interventions, and ethics, as well as supervising counseling trainees during their practicum experiences.
In clinical practice, Dr. Zoldan-Calhoun specializes in the treatment of adults presenting with PTSD, trauma-related issues, and substance use disorders. She is a Certified EMDR Therapist and has a special interest in working with military service members, veterans, and emergency first responders. Additionally, she has a passion for working with both those in recovery from substance use disorders and their loved ones. Dr. Zoldan-Calhoun has experience providing and supervising counseling services in university and community-based mental health and addiction counseling centers across northeastern Ohio.
Dr. Zoldan-Calhoun has contributed numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles to the professional counseling literature. Her research has focused on spiritual well-being, resilience, and burnout among counselors treating substance use disorders. Dr. Zoldan-Calhoun is a member of the Editorial Review Board of The Professional Counselor and has served on boards for the American Counseling Association, Ohio Counseling Association, and Association for Humanistic Counseling. She is a previous recipient of the Ohio Counseling Association’s Graduate Student Award and the Association for Humanistic Counseling’s Emerging Leader Award.
TPC looks forward to recognizing outstanding dissertations like those of Drs. Mifsud and Zoldan-Calhoun for many years to come.
Read more about the TPC scholarship awards here.
May 17, 2021 | Article
Jessica R. Burkholder, David Burkholder, Stephanie Hall, and Victoria Porter received the 2020 Outstanding Scholar Award for Concept/Theory for their article, “Training Counselors to Work With the Families of Incarcerated Persons: A National Survey.”
Jessica R. Burkholder, PhD, NCC, ACS, LPC, is an associate professor at Emory & Henry College in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. She received her PhD in counselor education and supervision from Kent State University. Dr. Burkholder’s research interests focus on the ethical development and multicultural training of counselors. She also is a licensed professional counselor and has a private practice, where she specializes in trauma.
David Burkholder, PhD, ACS, LPC, is an independently licensed counselor and an associate professor at Emory & Henry College in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Dr. Burkholder started his professional career as a counselor in 2004, working primarily with children and adolescents. He joined Monmouth University in 2009 after completing his PhD, where he mainly teaches field placement courses, career counseling, group counseling, and human development. Dr. Burkholder has primarily published in the areas of applied ethics, spirituality, and professional identity. He is a level three trained Gottman Method couples counselor and has a private practice, where he works exclusively with couples.
Stephanie Hall, PhD, NCC, ACS, CT, is the Founding Department Chair and Program Director of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Emory & Henry College. She is a licensed professional counselor in both Virginia and New Jersey. Her interests include grief counseling, multicultural counseling, women’s issues in counseling, the professional identity of counselors, and group work.
Victoria Porter, MS, NCC, LAC, received both her BA in psychology and MS in clinical mental health counseling from Monmouth University. She is the Program Coordinator at Wholehearted Healing Collective, a growing group practice in West Long Branch, New Jersey. This manuscript is Ms. Porter’s first professional publication, and she is incredibly grateful to have worked alongside her co-authors as a graduate research assistant during her graduate studies journey. Ms. Porter’s professional interests include self-compassion–based practices, grief work, research, and community outreach. She is also currently facilitating a group for teen girls striving to develop a healthy relationship with their bodies.
Read more about the TPC scholarship awards here.
May 17, 2021 | Article
Melissa Sitton, Tina Du Rocher Schudlich, Christina Byrne, Chase M. Ochrach, and Seneca E. A. Erwin received the 2020 Outstanding Scholar Award for Quantitative or Qualitative Research for their article, “Family Functioning and Self-Injury in Treatment-Seeking Adolescents: Implications for Counselors.”
Melissa Sitton, MS, is currently a doctoral student studying clinical psychology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She earned her BA in psychology and individual and family development from Seattle Pacific University, and her MS in experimental psychology from Western Washington University. Her research interests include experiences of stress and interpersonal violence in adolescence and young adulthood, and factors that might exacerbate or ameliorate outcomes following those stressful events.
Tina Du Rocher Schudlich, PhD, MHP, is a professor of psychology at Western Washington University. She serves as the director for the Psychology Department’s Counseling Training Clinic, where she oversees graduate counseling students providing free counseling services to community members. Her research interests examine the role of parent and family processes in the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children. Areas of specific focus include understanding reciprocal relations between mood disorders and families’ well-being and the role of parent participation in treatment for youth self-harm and autism spectrum disorder. Another emerging area of her research explores barriers and ways to increase access to mental health treatment for culturally and linguistically diverse youth and their family. She incorporates multi-method approaches to her research and is especially fond of qualitative methods, such as behavioral observations, interviews, and diary methods.
Christina A. Byrne, PhD, is an associate professor in the psychology department at Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington, where she serves as Director of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. Dr. Byrne’s research interests include psychological trauma and interpersonal violence. (Dr. Byrne is not pictured above.)
Chase M. Ochrach, MS, is finishing her third year in the counseling psychology doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her master’s in clinical mental health counseling from Western Washington University. Ochrach currently works with adjudicated youth at Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and with veterans at the Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee. She recently proposed her dissertation study, titled Boy’s Search for Meaning: Meaning Making as a Predictor of Trajectories of Adaptation in Formerly Incarcerated Youth. She hopes to continue with research and clinical work with forensic juvenile populations and will be applying to clinical internships this year.
Seneca E. A. Erwin, MA, recently received her master’s in educational psychology from the University of Northern Colorado. She works in the recruiting sphere at a Fortune 500 technology company. Her research interests focus on social justice, domestic violence, mindfulness, and play therapy.
Read more about the TPC scholarship awards here.
Mar 24, 2021 | Article
TPC received entries for the eighth annual Dissertation Excellence Award from across the United States. After great deliberation, the committee selected Dana L. Brookover to receive the 2021 Dissertation Excellence Award for her dissertation through Virginia Commonwealth University, The Relationship between Access to School Counseling and Students’ Attainment and Persistence in Postsecondary and STEM Education Outcomes.
Dana L. Brookover, PhD, NCC, earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Christopher Newport University and a Master of Education in school counseling from The College of William and Mary. In December of 2020, she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in counselor education and supervision from Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Brookover is an assistant professor in the University of Scranton’s counselor education program in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Prior to beginning her doctoral work, Dr. Brookover worked as a professional school counselor.
Dr. Brookover’s research interests include PK–16 education equity, including topics such as access to school counseling, first-generation college student success, and STEM equity. She also researches social determinants of health, and the related impact on well-being and education outcomes. She currently has 11 peer-reviewed publications, has presented at state and national counseling and counselor education conferences, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision. She is a researcher and educator who emphasizes centering a systems perspective in counseling, taking into account how economic stability, discrimination, social support, and education influence well-being.
TPC looks forward to recognizing outstanding dissertations like Dr. Brookover’s for many years to come.
Read more about the TPC scholarship awards here.
May 7, 2020 | Article
TPC received entries for the seventh annual Dissertation Excellence Award from across the United States. After great deliberation, the TPC editorial board committee selected Alison M. Boughn to receive the 2020 Dissertation Excellence Award for her dissertation, Child Psychological Maltreatment.
Alison M. Boughn, PhD, NCC, LPC (South Dakota), LMHC (Iowa), ATR-BC, TF-CBT, QMHP, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of South Dakota (2013), and both a Master of Science in mental health counseling and a Master of Science in art therapy counseling from Emporia State University (2015). In 2019, she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in counselor education and supervision from the University of South Dakota. Dr. Boughn is an assistant professor in Wayne State College’s counselor education program in Wayne, Nebraska. She is also a practicing clinician at the MercyOne Siouxland Child Advocacy Center (CAC) in Sioux City, Iowa, and the Family Education and Counseling Center in Yankton, South Dakota.
Dr. Boughn’s research interests began with concerns facing first responders and their relationship with fatigue and stress. She facilitated an art therapy project titled Shots After Work in 2013 with local law enforcement professionals integrating firearms and art-making into a therapeutic experience for participants. Shots After Work was shared on a national scale at the American Art Therapy Association’s 47th Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2016. Combining her clinical and art therapy professional identities, Dr. Boughn’s first responder work branched off into guest presentations with paramedic students and professionals during their educational and clinical training. The aim of these presentations was to implement awareness to the unique stresses first responders face in their professional and personal lives as well as to introduce self-care strategies.
Dr. Boughn practices trauma-focused art therapy and trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy with pediatric clients at the MercyOne Siouxland CAC. Her clients are typically involved in some form of child maltreatment case. She began her work there in 2016 where she developed trauma-focused mental health programming and policy as well as implementation of regular mental health screening procedures for all children entering the CAC. These screening processes provide evaluation for general trauma symptoms, sexual concerns, and suicidal ideations following a child’s forensic interview process. The implementation of these assessment protocols led to the ability to provide earlier interventions for children to access mental health and crisis services.
Dr. Boughn’s dissertation focus continues to be a critical aspect of her professional identity. Dr. Boughn has provided factual and expert testimony on child psychological maltreatment and recognizes the need for a comprehensive understanding of these experiences across professions, state and national laws, and varying cultural experiences. Dr. Boughn plans to continue her research goals by enhancing the integrity of the developed Psychological Maltreatment Inventory (PMI). Dr. Boughn hopes that the PMI may eventually act as a bridge between a child’s experiences with psychological maltreatment and an adult’s understanding of those experiences.
TPC looks forward to recognizing outstanding dissertations like Dr. Boughn’s for many years to come.
Read more about the TPC scholarship awards here.
May 14, 2019 | Article
TPC received entries for the sixth annual Dissertation Excellence Award from across the United States. After great deliberation, the TPC editorial board committee selected Stacey Diane A. Litam to receive the 2019 Dissertation Excellence Award for her dissertation, An Examination of Whether Scores of Attitudes Based on Labels and Counselor Attributes Predicted Scores of Human Relations and Beliefs About Rape in Counselors.
Stacey Diane A. Litam, PhD, NCC, LPCC (Ohio), earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Master of Arts in clinical mental health counseling from John Carroll University. In 2018, she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in counselor education and supervision from Kent State University. Dr. Litam is an assistant professor in Cleveland State University’s counselor education program in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a part-time instructor at the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) where she teaches the Foundations of Clinical Medicine courses.
Dr. Litam has over five years of experience within agency, college, and community mental health settings. She currently works as an LPCC at a Northeast Ohio agency where she specializes in serving survivors of sex trafficking, persons with substance use disorders, and LGBTQ+ clients. She is a researcher, educator, and social justice advocate on topics related to human trafficking, human sexuality, and the phenomenological experiences of individuals with intersecting marginalized identities.
Dr. Litam has facilitated over 50 state, national, and international presentations on topics related to sex trafficking, human sexuality, decolonizing the minority myth stereotype, and the influence of internalized racism and intra-ethnic othering on Asian American identity development. She has three peer-reviewed publications, with two additional peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter in press.
In October 2018, Dr. Litam was contracted by the Cleveland Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to provide a brief training program that outlined strategies to create a more affirming workplace for LGBTQ+ employees.
In addition to this award, Dr. Litam has won numerous awards for her academic and advocacy work, including a 2016 Doctoral Minority Fellowship from the NBCC Foundation, the 2016 Outstanding Doctoral Student of the Year award from the Ohio Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, the 2017 Humanistic Advocacy and Social Justice Award from the Association for Humanistic Counselors division of the American Counseling Association, the 2018 David K. Brooks Award from Chi Sigma Iota, and a 2019 Outstanding Service to Specialized Populations Award from NBCC.
TPC looks forward to recognizing outstanding dissertations like Dr. Litam’s for many years to come.
Read more about the TPC scholarship awards here.
