Michael R. Nadorff, Ph.D., Director
Dr. Michael Nadorff (far right pictured above) 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
Addison All, M.S.
Addison All is a senior Psychology and Philosophy double major. Addison’s research interests include psychopathology, personality, and suicide; especially within the context of at-risk and marginalized communities that have been previously shorn in research and treatment. She has three pets; two dogs named Reggie and Layla, and a cat named Jase. Her hobbies include reading, playing video-games, and she also plays “Magic: The Gathering.”
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 .
Victoria Garrigues, M.S.
Ryan Harra, M.S.
Ethan Herrin
Lissa Mandell, M.S.
Lissa Mandell, M.S., is a fourth-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Computer Science from the University of Miami. She then spent four years as a full-time research assistant at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where she worked in a behavioral medicine lab focused on HIV prevention and treatment adherence. Lissa’s current research focuses on how people’s hobbies and interests relate to their mental health, and how we can harness the power of those hobbies and interests to improve mental health, with a particular focus on suicide prevention.
Chandler McDaniel, M.S.
Jose Menivar, B.A.
Jose Menjivar, B.A., is a second year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program. He received his Bachelors of Arts from CUNY Hunter College in New York and was a Psychology, Sociology, and Public Policy major. He also earned a Post-Baccalaureate certificate from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. It was here that he developed his current research interest, examining the role of illness identity on mental health progression and recovery. Jose is broadly interested in interdisciplinary conceptions of mental health as they relate to experience of symptoms and treatment outcomes. He is also interested in translating research into policy to increase the use of evidence-based treatment in the mental health sector. In this vein, he is currently working on research evaluating the effectiveness of gatekeeper suicide prevention training at Mississippi State University.
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.
Staff
Ashley Byars – Research Associate
Ashley Byars received a B.S. in History from Mississippi College. She came to our team from MSU High Performance Computing Collaboratory and serves as our Research Associate.
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.
Chris Ellzey, LPC
Christopher (Chris) Ellzey originally graduated from MSU with bachelor’s degrees in English literature and Philosophy. After teaching English abroad and elsewhere for the better part of a decade, he made the transition to mental health, earning a master’s degree from MSU in Clinical Mental Health Counseling along the way. As a licensed counselor, he works primarily with children and young adults as they navigate the processes of growing up and growing into themselves.
Rachel-Clair Franklin, LPC, CHEZ – Licensed Training and Response Clinician
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 .
Mary Grace, M.S.W.
Mary S. Grace, M.S.W., received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Mississippi State University and earned a Master of Social Work degree with a concentration in Children, Adolescents, & Their Families from The University of Alabama. She has worked in an outpatient clinic, a medical inpatient rehabilitation unit, & acute care at a hospital. She also has a background in office management and insurance billing. She serves as the Clinic Manager for Mississippi State University Behavioral Health Clinic.
Rebecca Kimbrough, LPC
John Rice, L.C.S.W.
John Rice, L.C.S.W., is a licensed clinical social worker that graduated from the University of Mississippi with his Bachelor of Science in Social Work. John received his Masters of Social Work from OLLU in San Antonio, TX. He has impacted many lives by working with individuals from with A&D and Co Occuring Issues. John also has experience with working with children and families with Mental Health disorders and has also worked as a medical social worker.
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 is part of our team instituting the AWARE grant.
M. Kristin Jones Tew, Psy.D.
Dr. Kristin Tew attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS. She received her commission as an officer in the U.S. Air Force from Air Force ROTC Detachment 432, The University of Southern Mississippi. Dr Tew served as an officer in the US Air Force for 5 years. In 2012 she earned a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling from The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans. Dr. Tew earned her Doctorate in Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Xavier University in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Tew completed her APA Internship at Mississippi State University’s Student Counseling Services. She was the recipient of the BIAH Post-Doc Fellowship sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health at Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary medicine. Currently, she is continuing her Post Doc work as a staff psychologist in the Department of Psychology here at Mississippi State University.
Lab Alumni
Courtney Bolstad, Ph.D.
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.
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).
