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Becca Bergquist
- B.A., Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- B.A., Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- M.A., Forensic Psychology, George Washington University
- Bio: Becca Bergquist graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2016 with
a BA in Psychology and a BA in Criminal Justice. She then went onto receive her MA
in Forensic Psychology from the George Washington University in 2018, where she further
developed her research interests in the reliability and validity of juvenile risk
assessments and the role of protective factors in the assessment and treatment of
juvenile offenders. During that time, she worked as the lab manager for Dr. Jennifer
Woolard’s Georgetown Community Research Group, where she gained experience working
with justice-involved youth and developed an increased interest in this population.
This expanded into a desire to better understand the the importance of developmental
assets that may help this population to desist from offending. The accumulation of
these research interests led her to Texas Tech University, where she hopes to further
explore and contribute to the literature examining the intersection of psychology
and law.
- Research Interest(s): Risk assessments; risk and protective factors for juvenile offending;
resiliency
- Master’s Thesis: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Juvenile Justice Outcomes: The
Moderating Role of Individual and External Protective Processes
- Qualifying Examination: Risk and Protective Factors Among Justice-Involved Youth
- Dissertation: Neuropsychological Profiles of Justice-Involved Youth: Implications
for Risk and Protective Factors
- Internship: Utah State Hospital, Forensic Track
- Post-doc information: Becca is at the University of Virginia's Institute of Law, Psychiatry
and Public Policy
Amber Morrow
- B.A., Psychology, University of Oklahoma
- M.A., Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Bio: Amber earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in General Business
from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to her graduate training at Texas Tech, Amber
worked under Dr. Jane Silovsky and Dr. Susan Schmidt at the Center on Child Abuse
and Neglect and Child Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
Center. Through her training at TTU, Amber has gained clinical and psychological assessment
experiences at the TTU Psychology Clinic, TTU Health Sciences Center – Center for
Superheroes, Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research, Spendlove, Driskill,
and Bates Psychology Private Practice, and TTUHSC’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Clinic. Her clinical interests include implementing evidence-based treatments with
a focus on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), particularly Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)
and Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), through which she has become certified
PCIT Therapist and Within-Agency Trainer (WAT). She also obtained certifications in
the United Protocols for Children and Adolescents (UP-C, UP-A), in addition to co-leading
Triple P Parenting groups. Amber served as the Project Manager on the PRYDe lab's
CH Foundation grant funded study working with local Head Start centers and served
as PRYDe lab manager. In service to the Department of Psychological Sciences, Amber
served for two years as Clinical Graduate Student Council Co-President (a liaison
between the clinical students and faculty) as well as secretary. Finally, Amber completed
her training on internship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in Nashville,
Tennessee on the Child & Adolescent track for the 2023-2024 school year.
- Research Interest(s): Currently, Amber's research interests include examining executive
functions and externalizing behavior problems in preschool-aged children, as well
as parent discipline behaviors (i.e., spanking) and adverse childhood experiences
(ACEs). More specifically, she is interested in examining these variables in Head
Start populations. Amber was awarded the Covenant Health and Social Services Graduate
Fellowship from the Graduate School for each school year, from 2019-2024. She was
also awarded a Dissertation Fellowship for the 2022-2023 school year from the TTU
Graduate School for her dissertation project, in addition to obtaining funding for
her dissertation project from the Graduate Student Research Support Program.
- Master’s Thesis: Examining Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Spanking in Head
Start Children
- Qualifying Examination: The Role of Executive Function in the Development of Externalizing
Behavior Problems in Young Children
- Dissertation: Parental Adverse Childhood Experiences and Preschooler’s Externalizing
Behavior Problems: Identifying Risk and Protective Factors
- Post-doc information: Amber is at Vanderbilt Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences for her post-doc
James Barnett
- B.A., Psychology, Humboldt State University (2014)
- B.A., Communication Studies, Humboldt State University (2014)
- M.A., Psychology, Humboldt State University (2017)
- Bio: James Barnett earned his Bachelors of Arts and Master of Arts from Humboldt State
University. After graduating, James was a social worker for the California foster
care system where he worked directly in bolstering the outcomes of rural at-risk children.
James left social work for Texas Tech University to develop the skills necessary to
work with children in a clinical context. During his doctoral training, James received
clinical certifications in the provision of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT),
the Unified Protocol for Children and Adolescents (UP-C; UP-A), Group Triple P: Positive
Parenting Program for Children and Adolescents. Additionally, he is in the process
of completing his clinical certification for Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
(TF-CBT). James aspires to work as a child clinical psychologist within an academic
medical setting where his passion for clinical care and supervision coincides with
clinical-based research.
- Research Interest(s): He is broadly interested in areas pertaining to outcomes of
cumulative trauma across the lifespan, as well as specific and cumulative effects
of childhood adversity across developmental and clinical outcomes. In his doctorate
studies, James has focused on identifying transdiagnostic mechanisms that confer risk
to diverse comorbid psychological outcomes following childhood adversity. James has
also been actively involved in treatment-based research by providing therapy for youth
participating in a study to examine the utility of a modular protocol to address distress
and functional impairment following peer victimization experiences.
- Master's Thesis: Multiple Maltreatment and Adverse Childhood Experiences: Exploring
Cumulative Threats to Attachment Quality
- Qualifying Examination: A Review of Transdiagnostic Theory and Mechanisms Underpinning
Comorbidity of Mental Health Symptoms: Outcomes Following Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Dissertation: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Psychopathology: An Examination
of Transdiagnostic Mechanisms
- Post-doc information: James is at the Department of Psychiatry at Texas Tech University
Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) for his post-doc
Chelsy Simmons
- B.S., Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
- M.A., Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Bio: Chelsy Simmons earned her Bachelor of Science in Honors Psychology from the University
of Texas at Austin. Chelsy worked in a psychiatric hospital in Austin before coming
to Lubbock to pursue her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Texas Tech University. She
is gaining neuropsychological assessment experience in a private practice clinic working
with foster children and juveniles in the justice system. Additionally, Chelsy enjoys
providing therapy to children, adults, and families at the Texas Tech Psychology Clinic
and working in a multidisciplinary team at the Southwest Cancer Center.
- Research Interest(s): Influence of childhood adversity on executive functioning, psychopathology,
and treatment-related variables (e.g., cognitive reappraisal/positive reframing) in
children and adults. She is broadly interested in how adverse childhood experiences
affect factors relevant to psychopathology and treatment. Through her research, Chelsy
hopes to use assessment to gain insight into how childhood adversity affects emotional,
cognitive, and behavioral development. Chelsy is excited to be on her clinical child
psychology internship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center from 2021
to 2022.
- Master's Thesis: Executive Function, Intent to Exercise, and Consideration of Future Consequences:
A Mediation Model
- Dissertation: Examining Positive Reframing, Executive Function, and Adverse Childhood Experiences
in relation to Internalizing Symptoms
Alexandra “Allie” Gibson
- B.A., Psychology, West Virginia University
- M.A., Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Bio: Allie earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in French from West
Virginia University (WVU) in 2012. At WVU, Allie was a research assistant under Dr.
Cheryl McNeil and Dr. Claire St. Peter, where she assisted with research on Parent
Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and applied behavior analysis in educational settings,
respectively. Allie earned her Master of Arts in Psychology from Texas Tech University.
Her thesis examined a 1-hour online training focused on commonly used behavioral principles
used for child behavior management. In 2018, Allie joined the PRYDe lab and served
as a Project Manager for the first phase of the lab’s CH Foundation Head Start grant. This project investigated the impact of a classroom behavior management
program, the Good Behavior Game, on the externalizing and prosocial behaviors of six
Head Start children.
- Research Interest(s): Investigating prevention-interventions for preschoolers with
disruptive behaviors and the use of functional behavior assessment to inform behavioral
interventions.
- Dissertation (Defended in October 2019): Examining a Positive Variation of the Good Behavior Game in Head Start Children
- Predoctoral internship: Clinical Child Intern at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. During
this internship she completed rotations in ADHD and Behavioral Pediatrics, Feeding
and Elimination Disorders, and Special Needs populations, including ASD and Down syndrome.
- Post-doc Information: After internship, Allie began her postdoctoral training as the
Clinical Child Fellow at Children’s Mercy Kansas City starting in August of 2020.
She continued to receive specialty training in the assessment and treatment of disruptive
behaviors, ADHD, and ASD, in addition to working in a primary care setting focusing
on behavioral pediatrics.
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Jenny Chong Hutchinson
- B.B.A., Marketing, University of Texas at Austin
- M.A., Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Bio: Jenny Chong Hutchinson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing with
minors in Management and Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. After
graduating, Jenny worked as a research laboratory coordinator in the Parenting Research
Laboratory at Southern Methodist University. Through her doctoral education and training,
Jenny developed a broad interest in studying the impact of trauma exposure, neuropsychological
functions, and family factors on mental health outcomes in children and adolescents.
Jenny recently received a Graduate Student Research Support Award through Texas Tech
University to pursue her dissertation project focused on parental alcohol use problems,
positive parenting behaviors, and internalizing symptoms during adolescence. Jenny will soon be a certified PCIT therapist (after completion of her internship
in June) and will be eligible for TF-CBT therapist certification once she is a licensed
psychologist. Jenny looks forward to becoming a certified PCIT trainer.
- Research Interest(s): Impacts of trauma exposure, neuropsychological functions, &
family factors on mental health outcomes in children and adolescents
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Thesis: Girls’ Rumination and Maternal Rejection: Independent, Combined, and Specific Relations to Girls’ Depression versus Anxiety
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Dissertation: Prospective-Longitudinal Associations of Parental Alcohol Use Problems and Parental Warmth with Anxiety and Depression from Early to Late Adolescence
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Predoctoral Internship: Jenny has completed her internship at the UC Davis Children's
Hospital - CAARE (Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource and Evaluation) Center. Her primary responsibilities included implementing PCIT, PC-CARE, and TF-CBT with
child and adolescent victims of trauma and their families, conducting child welfare
and psychological testing evaluations, and providing training and supervision to junior
trainees as well as other professionals in the community.
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Post-doc Information: Jennycontinued her postdoctoral fellowship at the UC Davis Children’s Hospital - CAARE Center during
the 2020-2021 academic year.
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LeRoi Hill
- B.A., Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
- M.A., Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Bio: LeRoi Hill earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University
of California, Berkeley. Before relocating to Texas Tech University to pursue graduate
training, LeRoi worked with adolescents at-risk for housing instability, substance
abuse, and juvenile justice involvement. His research interests are anchored in developmental
psychopathology as influenced by acute and chronic traumatic childhood experiences.
Additionally, he is interested in the development and delivery of evidence-based,
trauma-focused treatments for children and adolescents. His dissertation examines
the influence that a history of trauma and time served in detention has on recidivism
for justice-involved youth with a history of child welfare involvement. In service
to the Department of Psychological Sciences, LeRoi served as the student/faculty liaison
for the TTU chapter of the national psychology honor society, Psi Chi, and as the
Clinical Psychology Program’s representative on the department’s Diversity Committee.
LeRoi is also the 2018-2019 Major General Vincent Luchsinger Scholarship recipient.
- Research Interest(s): Racial microaggressions and psychological distress; relationships
between childhood trauma, adversity, maltreatment, and development of psychopathology
in the justice-involved juvenile population; resilience to and treatment for childhood
adversity
- Dissertation: The Effects of Child Protective Services Involvement, Childhood Trauma, and Time in
Detention on Crossover Youth Recidivism
- Predoctoral Internship: LeRoi completed his internship at Monterey County Children's
Behavioral Health, in Salinas, CA. He has administered child and family mental health
assessments as well as provided therapy services to transitional aged youth with serious
mental illness.
- Post-doc Information: After internship, LeRoi hopes to transition to training in the
assessment and treatment of juveniles or recieve training within the criminal justice
system.
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Kelsey Maloney
- B.S., Psychology, Mississippi State University (2014)
- M.A., Clinical Psychology, Sam Houston State University (2016)
- Bio: Kelsey Maloney is a senior graduate student and one of the lab managers in the
PRYDe lab. In service to the Department of Psychological Sciences, Kelsey has served
as the Clinical Council co-president (2017-2019), and in service to the greater community,
she served as student representative for the South Plains Association of Psychologists
(2018-2019). She has gained clinical experience from the SHSU and TTU psychology clinics,
TTU Institute for Forensic Science forensic assessment practicum, Lubbock-Crosby County
Community Supervision and Corrections Department, TTU Health Sciences Center - Center
for Superheroes, and University Medical Center Department of Pediatrics, as well as
various assessments for juvenile justice and community neuropsychology populations.
- Research Interest(s): Kelsey’s research interests are rooted in the intersection of
forensic psychology and neuropsychology, especially neuropsychological assessment
in juvenile forensic populations. Other research interests include developmental trajectories
of mental health outcomes (especially trauma and disruptive behavior disorders) in
juvenile-justice populations, traumatic brain injury, vicarious trauma to forensic
mental health providers and assessors, the relationship between executive functioning
deficits and forensic questions (e.g., adjudicative competency/developmental incompetency,
risk assessment, juvenile waiver to criminal court), public policy and dissemination
of evidence-based treatments in juvenile justice settings, and the development of
normative data for neuropsychological assessment in juvenile-justice populations.
Along with Dr. Schmidt, she currently serves as Co-Principal Investigator on a REID
Grant from the American Psychology-Law Society entitled “Exploring Epigenetic Influences
of Aggression, Risk, and Resilience in Justice-Involved Youth.”
- Master's Thesis: Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Traumatic Brain Injury, and the Effect on Executive
Functioning Abilities
- Qualifying Examination: Neurocognitive Factors and the Trajectory of Justice-Involved Youth
- Dissertation: Neuropsychological Assessment and Comorbidities within Justice-Involved Youth
- Kelsey is completed her APA-approved internship at the University of Tennessee Health
Sciences Center (UTHSC) Professional Psychology Internship Consortium in 2020-2021.
- Kelsey accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Child Welfare and Trauma-Informed
Care at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Center of Excellence
for Children in State Custody.
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Alli Morton
- B.A., Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- M.A., Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Bio: Alli Morton earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2014. Prior to pursuing her graduate training at Texas Tech,
Alli worked at an emergency shelter for youth involved with child protective services
or the juvenile justice system and volunteered as a research assistant in Dr. Hansen’s
Project Sexual Abuse and Family Education lab. Alli currently serves as the president
of the student special interest group for the Association for Cognitive and Behavioral
Therapies (ABCT). She has gained clinical experience through the Texas Tech Psychology
Clinic, StarCare, Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center, and the Center for Superheroes.
Alli was recently awarded the Helen DeVitt Jones Graduate Fellowship through Texas
Tech University.
- Research Interest(s): Throughout her doctoral training, Alli’s research and clinical
interests have begun to center around evidenced-based, trauma-informed assessments
and therapeutic interventions for youth in foster care or the juvenile justice system.
More specifically, she is interested in the relation between trauma exposure, externalizing
behavior problems, and juvenile justice involvement as well as mechanisms of change.
She aspires to utilize methods to identify and critically evaluate evidence-based
practices.
- Professional Goals: Alli's professional goals center around children and adolescents
and obtaining additional training to become proficient in the implementation of evidence-based
practices, with specialized training in treating individuals who have experienced
trauma or are involved in the justice system. Further, she aspires to pursue a career
that allows her to provide evidence-based clinical services to underserved populations,
conduct clinical research, inform public policy, and help as many children and families
as possible.
- Masters Thesis: The Relation Between Parental Psychological Control and Youth Internalizing Symptoms
Moderated by Parenting Constructs
- Dissertation: An Examination of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Externalizing Behavior
Problems in Adolescents
- Alli completed her APA approved pre-doctoral internship at University of Arkansas
Medical Sciences in 2020-2021.
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Courtney Goldenberg (she/her)
