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Adapting MindTrails for youth participating in mentoring programs

MindTrails is currently a program for adults who want to learn how to think in new ways to reduce feelings of anxiety. We are now in the process of updating the content of the intervention to be able to help youth (ages 13+) think in new ways in response to academic, social, and other stressors. Specifically, we are developing an intervention that meets the needs of youth who are participating in youth mentoring programs, with the goal of having their mentors help them use MindTrails on a consistent basis.

MindTrails is a cognitive bias modification for interpretations (CBM-I) intervention. The program was developed by a team of psychologists and engineers at the University of Virginia.

We are thankful to be partnered with MentorHub, a supportive accountability app, and the Center for Evidence-based Mentoring on this project.

This work is funded by AIM Youth Mental Health.

Developing a supportive accountability app

MentorHub is a new app that allows mentors and programs track mentee's use of technology-delivered interventions and best-in-class apps.

Despite best efforts to increase access to mental health, wellbeing, and education resources through technology, sustained engagement in these programs is a major problem. In addition, although youth participating in formal mentoring programs often struggle with mental health difficulties, most programs aren't adequately designed to provide effective interventions for these kids. This is where MentorHub can help: youth participating in mentoring programs are encouraged to use some of the best apps (SuperBetter, IntelliCare, and more), and their mentor can see their progress and engagement through the MentorHub app. Importantly, the app teaches the skills the youth needs to know, and the mentor just encourages use of the apps! This can be seamlessly integrated into existing mentoring relationships, or can serve as the basis for new relationships.

The MentorHub team is currently working with well-known mentoring organizations, like Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Friends of the Children, and more. We are excited about increasing access to resources to help youth feel better!

Examining implicit and explicit attitudes tied to health

Project Implicit Health (PIH) is a research and education website that allows individuals to learn more about their implicit associations tied to various health topics.

I have particular interest in how implicit associations tied to mental health (e.g., self-as-anxious associations) relate to symptoms of mental health. My master's focused on implicit associations tied to physical health relates to age. And, we're currently in the process of examining how COVID-19-related implicit associations relate to symptoms of mental health.

Additional interests

Increasing interest in evidence-based mental health treatments

I'm passionate about finding ways of increasing access to treatments that work. One way of increasing access is by increasing knowledge of treatments that work among people who may not otherwise know about various kinds of mental health treatments. Across four studies, my dissertation examined:

Whether varying headlines on the American Psychological Association's website increased engagement on the site that described evidence-based treatments for PTSD. This was a field test on the live website promoting the APA's Clinical Practice Guidelines for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
Whether the results on the APA's website replicated in an online laboratory setting.
Attitudes about various headings for promoting treatments for anxiety disorders in a series of focus groups with individuals with anxiety and their loved ones.
Whether demographic characteristics predict class membership of patterns of responding to headlines promoting evidence-based anxiety treatments.

Increasing access to evidence-based mental health treatments

Unfortunately, there will always be greater need for mental health services than psychologists and therapists will be able to adequately provide. I agree with many in our field who believe that we can start to "give psychology away" by various methods, such as task-shifting (training paraprofessionals to deliver evidence-based interventions under the supervision of licensed professionals) and increasing access to technology-delivered interventions.

Improving training for clinical psychology graduate students

As a graduate student, I was lucky to be able to serve as a student representative to the board for the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP). Over my two years on the board, I learned more about issues of training in clinical psychology and became involved in research projects in this area. As an example, evidence suggests that programs need to improve how they recruit racial and ethnic minority and LGBTQ students during the interview process.