Most efficient way to search for mentors

[xena35o]

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I'm trying to figure out the most efficient way to search for clinical and counseling psychologists who share my research interests. My interests are primarily in cross-cultural experiences of mental illness. The problem is that my searches often turn up articles by psychiatrists, anthropologists, epidemiologists, and psychologists teaching at other types of programs (i.e., developmental, social, etc.). While this is great for learning, it makes finding potential mentors very time-consuming. I've thus far been searching for interesting articles and then looking up the authors, but this has been a slow process.

I know that this topic is too broad at this point, but do you have any suggestions on how to hone in on professors at clinical and counseling psychology degree programs as I narrow my interests?

Thank you in advance.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I'd just look through the faculty pages on program websites. I had the same problem with my interests (broadly, disability psych).

 

[syzergy]

If you're currently doing research or have done research in the past related to your interests, you can ask for suggestions. Almost everyone I'm applying to work with has collaborated with one of professors I'm currently doing research for. She gave me a list of names of people she either knows personally or has collaborated with in the past.

 

[IHrtHealthPsych]

Do a literature review in your area of research and investigate the authors.

 

[ala2246]

Have you tried connecting with professional organizations that promote cross cultural psychology?

As a Ph.D. student with a specialization in international psychology, I am a member of divisions 9, 27, and 52 of the APA. They all offer great resources for not only finding a mentor with the same types of research interests, but also provide opportunities to serve on committees with some of them. This is great experience and very helpful in the networking process as well.

Division 9: https://www.spssi.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=4
Division 27: http://www.scra27.org/
Division 52: http://www.itopwebsite.com/InternationalPsychology/HOME.html

Good luck!

 

[nibu]

not sure what specifically you are interested in terms of "cross cultural" - i was interested in a similar concept and here's what i found in my search last year:

karen suyemoto - umass boston, clinical psych phd. does primarily asian/asian american cross cultural research.

derald wing sue - columbia university, counseling phd. ditto above.

dr. kassinove - hofstra university, clinical psych phd. cross cultural issues, cross cultural expressions of anger

my best advice is to get your hands on an article by suyemoto or sue, and go through their references page. you will find tons of articles pertaining to cross cultural issues, and usually you can tell from the title whether it pertains to clinical/counseling issues and then look up the authors on that, who are bound to be professors at some clinical or counseling programs.

 

[bvail]

What I did over the summer was got the APA manual for psych and looked at every faculty member in every clinical program that was listed. It was quite time consuming but if I had not done that I know there are some that I would have missed and not applied too.

 

[JuniperTree]

Agree with Nibu - am doing the same thing. There's no shortcut to developing human relationships, unless you happen to know one person who knows everyone you need to know.

 

[Jeina]

What I did over the summer was got the APA manual for psych and looked at every faculty member in every clinical program that was listed. It was quite time consuming but if I had not done that I know there are some that I would have missed and not applied too.

This was the approach I took, and I completely agree with your assessment. The process was time-consuming, but I was able to rest easy knowing I hadn't missed anyone. I'd do it the same way if I had it to do over again. 🙂