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ACCESS for Mental Health

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ACCESS for Mental Health
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Prospective Graduate Students
-    please contact Dr. Mehta if you are interested in working with her.
        
Undergraduate Training Opportunities
-    Please email accessMHatuic [dot] edu

Melanie Tran BA

  • Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student
Melanie Tran is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Broadly, her research aims to reduce disparities in access to mental health services for marginalized communities and to utilize a community-based, public health approach to promote youth mental health and resilience. Her specific research interests include enhancing youth mental health and positive development in settings natural and accessible to children and families, such as schools, recreational programs, and community organizations; building capacity in youth-serving organizations and workforces to sustainably deliver effective services; and promoting mental health in ethnic minority and immigrant communities through culturally responsive practices.

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Melanie Tran

Vanessa Diaz BS, BA

  • PhD Student, Clinical Psychology Program
  • Graduate Student Affiliate, ACCESS to Mental Health Lab
  • UIC Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student
Vanessa Diaz is a doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at University of Illinois at Chicago. She moved to Chicago, IL from San Diego, CA, where she received her B.S. and B.A. degree from UC San Diego. She looks forward to further developing her research interest in mental health disparities among underrepresented populations, barriers to mental health access, perception of mental health. Vanessa looks forward to working and building relationships with the community through her work.

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Vanessa Diaz

Sungha Kang MS

  • Predoctoral Psychology Intern
Sungha Kang is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Psychology Intern at UIC Department of Psychiatry. Sungha’s scholarly interests involve attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related externalizing behavior problems, and how they are identified, diagnosed, and treated in racial/ethnic minority children. She is particularly interested in broader contextual factors that influence the assessment and treatment of childhood externalizing behaviors for children of color, such as family, schools, and policy.

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Sungha Kang

Violeta J. Rodriguez MS, MSEd

  • Predoctoral Psychology Intern
Violeta J. Rodriguez

Erika L. Gustafson PhD

  • Clinical Psychologist and Instructor
  • Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR)
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Erika L. Gustafson is a Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR) in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Broadly, her research focuses on community-based interventions to support the mental health of families in marginalized communities impacted by poverty and structural inequities. She is particularly interested in how we can leverage paraprofessional workforces (i.e., community health workers (CHWs), lay providers, near peers) to expand access to contextually and culturally relevant mental health supports for communities that are underserved in standard models of mental healthcare. Her specific research interests include developing community-based, CHW-led mental health service models, and leveraging dissemination and implementation science to understand the mechanisms that contribute to the feasibility and sustainability of community-embedded services that use paraprofessional workforces. 

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Erika L. Gustafson

Angela L. Walden PhD

  • Clinical Assistant Professor, Institute for Juvenile Research, Department of Psychiatry
  • Research Assistant Professor, Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science, Department of Medicine
Dr. Angela Walden is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Research Assistant Professor in the Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science in the Department of Medicine. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Community Engagement & Collaboration Core in UIC’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Dr. Walden received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from California Polytechnic State University and Master of Arts and Doctoral Degrees in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral training at the Institute for Juvenile Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Walden provides clinical services through the Pediatric Mood Disorders Clinic. Her training as a clinical-scientist and background in both clinical and community psychology informs her clinical approach; she utilizes empirically-supported models while also recognizing that clients’ cognitions and behaviors are influenced by individual-, family-, and social-level factors. Her theoretical orientation incorporates a multilevel understanding of mental health and intervention, rooted in cognitive-behavioral approaches.

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Angela Walden

Loretta Hsueh MA

  • Pre-Doctoral Psychology Intern
  • Department of Psychiatry, UIC

Loretta is a pre-doctoral psychology intern at UIC and a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology (health psychology emphasis) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). She previously earned degrees from San Diego State University (MA in Psychology, Physical/Mental Health track) and UC Santa Barbara (BA, Psychological and Brain Sciences).

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Loretta Hsueh

Jennifer Kurian

  • Research Associate