All student members in good standing with the Society are eligible and encouraged to vote for their next Student Representative. Student members of the Society will have until November 30th to cast their ballots.
VOTE HERE
Heather Muir
University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst
Heather Muir is a fourth-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst where she works in Dr. Michael Constantino’s Psychotherapy Research Lab. She recently started a clinical practicum working with inpatients with a forensic history at the Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center in Boston, MA. In 2014, Heather graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BA in psychology. After graduation, Heather worked as a Research Coordinator of the Interpersonal Relationships Laboratory at the University of Maryland. In 2017, Heather began her graduate work at UMass. Her master’s thesis examined the impact of integrating of motivational interviewing with CBT on interpersonal outcomes for generalized anxiety disorder. Additional projects have focused on routine outcomes monitoring and patient expectations in therapy. This work has been disseminated at professional conferences and in peer-reviewed publications. In the future, she is interested in examining therapist effects and patient/therapist commitment to
treatment.
Lei Y. Sun
University of Miami
Lei Y. Sun is a third-year counseling psychology doctoral student at the University of Miami and a Registered Marriage and Family Therapy Intern in Florida. Driven by her keen passion for psychotherapy research, she joined Division 29 prior to her doctoral training and began work with the division’s Student Development Committee in 2020. Her research interests include psychotherapy processes and attachment theory. As a biracial individual with diverse lived experiences, she is fascinated by the processes through which one develops self and cultural identity in attachment relationships. Lei has worked in community mental health, hospital, and forensic settings, treating low income children and families, as well as adults with mood, anxiety, and personality disorders. She was invited to speak on clinical issues in telehealth on a panel at the 2020 APA Convention. As a member of Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAn), Lei is also passionate about advocating for relation-based psychotherapy for children and for mindful implementation of laws pertaining to psychological policy in educational and health care systems. She hopes to further her work in the Division 29 Student Development Committee by facilitating support for student involvement, collaboration, and networking at divisional and APA levels.
Daniel Lydon
St. John’s University
Daniel is a second-year clinical psychology doctoral student at St. John’s University, who has recently completed his master’s thesis research under the mentorship Dr. Raymond DiGiuseppe. Daniel initially joined APA’s Division 29 to stay up-to-date on the latest research in this ever-advancing field. Since joining, Daniel believes his membership has enhanced his graduate school experience and he wishes to share that knowledge with other students. His current research interests involve the study of aspects of psychotherapy influenced by the therapist themselves, which may sometimes interfere with their work (i.e., personal bias), with the goal of informing practitioners and helping them to overcome these barriers in treatment. More broadly, Daniel has interests in clinical health psychology, including the application of psychotherapy to physical symptoms. Daniel previously worked in a behavioral medicine setting with a team that was conducting research on evidence-based psychotherapy for side-effect management in individuals diagnosed with breast cancer. If elected chair, Daniel plans to encourage and initiate productive conversations related to how we as graduate students can play a role in advocating for societal and systematic level change, especially in regard to racial injustices.
