Student Accomplishments

Y. Igarashi, A. Neeley, Z. Graham & M. Aguilar
at Cal Lutheran Festival of Scholars.

A primary objective of the Master of Science in Clinical Psychology program is to provide students with an opportunity to initiate and participate in research projects of interest to them. In addition to the completion of a quantitative master's thesis, students are encouraged to present their research at regionally and nationally based research conferences.

Student Achievements

• Congratulations to Cal Lu MS Clinical Alum Mariana Aristizabal on her admission to the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at Xavier University!  Good luck!
• Congratulations to Cal Lu MS Clinical Alum Abdulilah Bakhsh on his admission to the Ph.D. program at the University of Sheffield! Congrats and Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Victoria Cipres on her position at Front St. Incorporated in Santa Cruz!
• Congratulations to Cal Lu MS Clinical Alum Celina Grewal for her admission to the doctoral program at Califoronia Lutheran University!  Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Thomas Law for his admission to the doctoral program at Califoronia Lutheran University!  Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Cal Lu MS Clinical Alum David Cheung for his admission to the doctoral program at Califoronia Lutheran University!  Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Cal Lu MS Clinical alum Isabella Zemshman for her admission to Southwestern Law School!  Best of luck!
• Congrulations to Meghan Wong for her new position as a Data Analyst at the University of Pittsburgh in the "Longitudinal Research Program for Late-Life Suicide."  Congratulations!
• Congratulation to Jennifer Alcalde for her admission to the PhD program at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology!  Good luck!
• Congratulation to Jennifer Alcalde for receiving the Filipinx American Psychology Scholarship Award from the Asian American Psychological Association! Great work!
• Congratulations to Cal Lu MS Clinical alum Samuel L. Van Buskirk for the completion of his PhD at the University of Texas, San Antonio! 
• Congratulations to Andrea Sanchez for her admission to the doctoral program at the University of Oregon!  Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Minerva Escobar for her admission to the doctoral program at the University of La Verne! Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Tarah Chase for her admission to the doctoral program at Spalding University, Louisville, KY!  Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Dimple Jain for her admission to the doctoral program at Califoronia Lutheran University!  Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Harrison Pope for his admission to the doctoral program at California Lutheran University! Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Ashlee Vasquez for her admission to the docotral program at Chaminade University, Honolulu, HI!  Good Luck!
• Congratulation to alumnus J. R. Soria for his acceptance to the highly competitive 2-year Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program and his doctoral internship at Wright-Patterson US Air Force Base! Best of Luck!
• Congratulations to Ryan Barroso on his admission to the doctoral program at the University of San Francisco!  Good Luck!
• Congratulations to Isaac Harosh for his admission to the PhD program in Counseling Psychology at the University of Kansas!  Best of Luck!
• Congratulations to Gina Lin for her admission to the PhD program at Seattle Pacific University! Best of Luck!
• Congratulations to Jonathan Larson for his admission to the PhD program in Clinical Psychology at Wichita State University! Best of Luck!
• Congratulations to J. R. Soria for his admission to the doctoral program at Nova Southeastern University!  Best of Luck!
• Congratulations to Halleh Hashtpari for her admission to the PhD program in Counseling Psychology at the University of Utah!
• Congratulations to Varvara Toma for her admission to the PhD program in Clinical Psychology at Alliant University in San Diego!
• 

  J. Ramirez, C. Kouhanim, H. McKinley, and Dr. Jamie
  Bedics at the APA Conference in Denver, CO.

  Congratulations to Chanel Kouhanim for receiving a Cal Lutheran Graduate Student Travel Award to APA’s Annual Convention in Denver, CO!  View Photo.

Selected Master's Theses

• Diversity
  • "Identity Integration and the Psychological Well-Being of Iranian Americans", by Halleh Hashtpari
  • "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Adolescents in a Conflict Zone of Kashmir", by Iqra I. Beg
• Non-Clinical Populations
  • "Qualitative Analysis of the Perception of those that Die by Suicide in the First Responder Community"
  • "Family Mediator Perceptions of Providing Court Recommendation on Child Custody Disputes", by Lindsay Seino
• Clinical Populations 
  • "Men's Depression - Endorsed Expereinces and Expresssion: A Replication Study by Isaac Harosh
  • "Emotional and Social Predictors of Binge Eating Disorder", by Abdulliah Baksh
  • "Hiearchical Bayesian Analysis of Murder-Suicide in the NVDRS", by Chanel Kouhanim
  • "The Association between DSM Diagnoses and Suicide Ideation and Behavior in Juvenile Delinquents" by Katherine Lyn McEnroe
• Clinical Interventions
  
  • "Post Publication Evaluation of DBT Skills Training", by Jonathan Larson
  • "Exploration of Adolescent Hope through Adolescent-Parent Relationships and Goals", by Jennifer Haeringer

Selected Conference Presentations

• Jain, I.*, Park, S., Bedics, J. (2026, May). Psychological correlates of suicidal behavior among international and domestic college students in the United States without non-suicidal self-harm. Poster to be presented at that annual meeting of the American Association of Suicidology, St. Louis, Missouri.
• Hernandez, A., Grewal, H,C., & Bedics, J. D. (2024, August). The Fidelity of Safety Planning in a Community Counseling Center, Poster presented at the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA.
• *Grewal, H.C., & Hooper, E. (2024, April). Exploring Cultural Differences Among South Asian and Caucasian Adults Regarding Psychological Help-Seeking Attitudes and Stigma SurroundingMental  Health.. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
• *Aristizabal, M., Klacsmann, A., & Park, S. (April, 2024). Comparing the Effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Reducing Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis. Poster presented at the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco.
• *Aristizabal, M., Klacsmann, A., & Park, S. (August, 2024). Investigating Factors that Moderate the Effectiveness of EMDR and TF-CBT on PTSS. Poster presented at the American Psychological Association, Seattle,WA.
• *Sanchez, A., & Hooper, E. (2022, April). Bicultural stress and mental health among college students. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Portland, OR.
• *Pope, H. (2022, April). Rejection sensitivity, invalidating environment exposure, and borderline personality traits. Poster to be presented at the Annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Portland,  OR.
• *Paz, S., (2022, April). Adapting Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children of Illegal Immigration. Poster to be presented at the Annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Portland,  OR.
• *Lin, Y., & Bedics, J. D. (2019, August). Multiple outcomes and analyses in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skills training: Evaluation and interpretation. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
• *Larson, J. & Bedics, J. D. (2018, May). Meta-Analysis of 12-Month Follow-Up Outcomes for Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skill Training. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science , San Francisco, CA.

• *Olivera, V., *Harosh, I., & Bedics, J. D. (2018, April). The Interpersonal Function of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury.  Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Portland, OR

• *Larson, J. & Bedics, J. D. (2018, April). Post-Publication Evaluation of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skill Training. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Portland, OR.

• Gerson, M. J., Gerson, M. W., Georgeff, J., Randazzo, K., Fernandez, T., *Conceicao, I., ... *Renee, N. T. (2016). Exploring Theory of Mind: Relationship Between Autism Spectrum Characteristics, Eyetracking, and Cognitive Impressions of a Magic Presentation.

• *Aguilar, M., & Holder, L. (2016, April). The effects of culture on the Latina woman’s perceptions of intimate partner violence. Presented at the California Lutheran University Festival of Scholars, Thousand Oaks, CA.

• *Igarashi, Y., Sharma, R. N. (2016, April). Personal happiness in relation to culture. Poster presented at the annual Festival of Scholars Conference at California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA.

• *Graham, Z., & Bedics, J. D. (2016, April). Interpersonal influences and drinking habits in a college sample. Poster presented at the annual Festival of Scholars Conference at California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA. 
• *Ramirez, J.A., *Kouhanim, C.S., *McKinley, H., Bedics, J.D. & Linehan, M.M. (2016, August). Clients Perceptions of Therapists After Alliance Rupture-Repairs in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Denver, CO. 

*Denotes Cal Lutheran Student