Lab Members and Alumni
Michael R. Nadorff, Ph.D., Director
Dr. Nadorff received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2007 with degrees in Psychology and Computer Applications. He received his master’s and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at West Virginia University and completed his clinical residency at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Nadorff’s research interests involve the relations between sleep disorders, suicidal behavior, and aging. A particular focus of Dr. Nadorff’s work has been examining the relation between insomnia symptoms, nightmares, and suicidal behavior. Dr. Nadorff is also interested in changes in suicidal behavior with age and investigating the efficacy and effectiveness of sleep treatments such as Cogntive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia and Imagery Rehearsal Therapy for nightmares. In 2021 he was named a fellow of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Dr. Nadorff has been continuously funded since 2013, receiving funding from SAMHSA, NIMH, CDC, and the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.
Doctoral Students
Ashley Pate, M.S.
Ashley is a fourth year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program. She received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in women and gender studies from the University of Southern Mississippi. While there, she became interested in and pursued research on suicidal ideation among sexual minority individuals. Upon graduating, Ashley went to work as a behavior technician and a recreation adviser at an inpatient state psychiatric hospital in Florida. Experiences working with clients within that facility served to further her interest in pursuing research to help better understand and prevent suicide. Specifically, Ashley is interested in examining risk factors and resiliency among minority groups, particularly sexual and gender minorities, and how these factors may differ based upon intersecting identities.
Courtney Bolstad, M.S.
Courtney Bolstad, M.S., is a fourth-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. Courtney is a student representative for the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine and the American Psychological Association’s Human-Animal Interaction Section 13 of Division 17. Courtney’s research interests include sleep, geropsychology, and human-animal interactions. As an emerging scholar, Courtney has numerous peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals and many other manuscripts under review. Courtney has been featured in Time, Quartz, Gizmodo, The Dream Journal, Insider, and Sleep Review on various sleep topics.
Nathan Barclay, M.S.
Nathan Barclay, M.S. is a fifth-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. Nathan recently shifted from working with Dr. Berman to Dr. Nadorff’s lab and he is working on a dissertation looking at how we can better fit therapy to men to hopefully lead to higher adherence, less dropout, and overall better treatment results. More information on Nathan is forthcoming.
Deepali Dhruve, M.S.
Deepali Dhruve, M.S. is a third year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a minor in psychology from the University of California, Davis. She also earned her post-baccalaureate certificate in psychology from the University of California, Irvine. While there, she became interested in and pursued research at the intersection of law and psychology. Currently, Deepali’s research interests include emotion regulation, trauma, and de-escalation in the context of law enforcement officers. Deepali is also a Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Scholar and has been published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
For more, please find her e-portfolio at https://www.deepalidhruve.com/
Staff
Rachel-Clair Franklin – Licensed Training and Response Clinician
(photo by Beth Wynn / © Mississippi State University)
Rachel-Clair received her bachelors degree from Mississippi University for Women in 2005 with a degree in Psychology. She received her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Mississippi State University in 2011. Rachel-Clair has been interested in the connection between mental health and public health and later obtained a master’s degree in Public Health from Mississippi University for Women in 2016. For six years she has worked directly with young adults within college counseling centers and has previous experience working with adolescents both in the home and within inpatient settings. Her clinical areas of interest include identity development, risk factors that contribute to suicidality, and the impact that sleep wake disorders have on the quality of life. She works as the training clinician on the Mississippi Garrett Lee Smith suicide prevention grant and is available for gatekeeper and postvention trainings free of charge throughout the state. Further. Rachel-Clair is available to respond to youth suicides throughout the state to help with postvention services. For more information regarding our Alliance Project trainings please go to https://www.msualliance.com.
Courtney Swan, M.S.W, L.C.S.W
Courtney Swan, M.S.W., received her undergrad degree from Auburn University in English with minors In psychology and economics and a Masters of Social Work from The Ohio State University. Her concentration in grad school was clinical tract with a focus on gerontology. She has worked in private practice, community mental health, an inpatient psychiatric hospital, nursing homes, domestic violence shelter, and student counseling center. Her primary course to teach was social welfare policy, though she has taught a variety of other courses in both social work and psychology. Courtney has been leading our Drug Free Communities grant project, but will be transitioning to another project within our team this summer.
Tonya Calmes – Business Coordinator
Tonya Calmes received a B.S. in Business Administration from Rust College and came to our team from the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine. She serves as a business coordinator for our team and helps with administering and managing the Garrett Lee Smith youth suicide prevention grant.
Lab Alumni
Dr. Drapeau completed his post-doctoral fellowship in our lab. He is the Executive Director of Prevention, Suicide Prevention and Crisis Response for the State of Indiana. He is formerly an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education, serving as a faculty member in the graduate M.Ed./Ed.S. School Psychology Program at Valparaiso University. He completed his doctoral training at Ball State University, where he specialized in school psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and counseling psychology. Christopher completed an APA-accredited doctoral internship in the Psychological Services Department at Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, where he also specialized in parent management training (PMT). During his postdoctoral fellowship at Mississippi State University, he specialized in behavioral sleep medicine and provided mid-level supervision to Clinical Psychology doctoral students providing PMT services.
Courtney (Shea) Golding, Ph.D.
Dr. Shea Golding is one of the first four graduates from the Clinical Psychology PhD program at MSU, and is also the first graduate from our laboratory. She received her master’s degree from MSU, with her thesis focusing on parenting and discipline practices (Dr. Cliff McKinney, chair). Her dissertation, which was funded by the Military Suicide Research Consortium, focused on the role religiosity plays in coping after the suicide of a loved one (external member: Dr. Julie Cerel). Dr. Golding is now a licensed psychologist and practices Behavioral Sleep Medicine at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her profile at Spectrum Health can be found here.
Katrina (Kat) Speed, Ph.D.
Dr. Katrina Speed is a staff psychologist at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, GA. Prior to that, she was a MIRECC post-doctoral fellow at the Canandaigua VA. She graduated from Mississippi University for Women with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Business Management minor. Her dissertation, which was generously funded by the Military Suicide Research Consortium, examined the effectiveness of Imagery Rehearsal Therapy for Nightmares administered in-person to administered via a smartphone app in a sample of active duty military and Veterans (external committee member: Dr. Anne Germain).