Department of Psychology
Biography:
Keywords: health psychology; gender, sexuality and identity; traumatic stress
Having completed my PhD in Experimental Psychology at York University in 1997, I took up a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Health Psychology at Mount Saint Vincent University. During this time, I extended my doctoral work on identity renegotiation in HIV-positive women to a focus on disclosure issues in this population. Other projects during this time pertained to health, sexuality and identity among sexual minority groups. I joined the Ryerson Psychology Department in 2001, following a two-year Clinical/Research Fellowship in Psychosocial Oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital (University Health Network). At PMH, I began to study traumatic stress among cancer patients, as well as continuing my interests in sexuality and gender issues as they pertain to this population.
My teaching includes courses on Models of Stress and Adaptation; Death, Dying and Bereavement; and Human Sexuality. I have also taught Gender Differences; Psychology of Women; Statistics; Research Methods; Learning; and Introductory Psychology.
I am currently pursuing two main lines of research: a) traumatic stress and emotional responses in a variety of populations, including youth-in-care, emergency medical personnel and the chronically ill; and b) constructions of gender, sexuality and identity. One such project pertains to critical incident stress among emergency medical personnel. Another study examines the role of traumatic stress on emotional regulation among youth-in-care. Discourses of agency and desire among Canadian youth is the focus of another recently launched project.
Hot! Psych Feature:
Are We There Yet?: Desire and Agency among Youth in the Twenty-First Century
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