Jordan J. Dunn, MA
Jordan is a senior doctoral student at the New School for Social Research, where his interests include therapy process and outcome for White patients working with therapists of color and experiences of undocumented students and those from mixed status families. Jordan's scholarly, professional and activist pursuits since moving to NYC from Iowa ten years ago have led to an abiding interest in cultural diversity. Previously, Jordan conducted ethnographic fieldwork on LGBT Latina/os' experiences of belonging in Spain. He has also been involved in projects on ruptures to the working alliance between Latina/o patients and their mental health providers, Black and Latino gay men's decision-making regarding substance use and safer sex, and first sessions between therapists of color and White patients. Jordan is a member of the New School DREAM Team, a student organization which works to make the university more accessible to undocumented students.
He is the team leader for the Therapists of Color Systematic Review.
Maryam Omidi, M.A.
Maryam is a senior doctoral student who is currently an RA for the Therapists of Color project. Her Masters Thesis used PAR to develop a research project for mental health resources for the street homeless community in the neighborhood of her co-investigators.
Sara Waters, M.S., LMHC
Sara has been an RA the Culture & Mental Health Lab since 2011, and is leading a project exploring first sessions in cross-racial therapy. She is also collaborating on a qualitative project examining how intersecting cultural identities emerge and are negotiated in the therapeutic relationship. She recently presented the findings at the 2013 Diversity Challenge. Sara also is leading a third project on sexual orientation as a dimension of patient identity in racially mismatched therapy dyads. Sara is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with extensive experience working with diverse communities and a long history of social justice advocacy, including serving as mental health expert witness for asylum seekers due to persecution or torture. She is committed to psychological research that recognizes the centrality of culture and the function of privilege in intercultural interactions, and that advances culturally-grounded therapeutic interventions. See Sara's CV here.