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Evangelical Influences On The Prevalence Of Homophobia In 21st Century Brazilian Politics, Griffin M. Bilello

Senior Theses

In recent decades, Brazil has seen a large influx of Evangelical identification among its population, and this religious group has become a prominent political group that has occupied different positions of power in government. This Evangelical prominence has led to the blocking of LGBTQ+ legislative protections, the protection of homophobic governmental policies, and the perpetuation of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that has threatened the well-being of Brazil’s queer community. This thesis analyzes the social media presence of prominent political figures in Brazil to understand the ongoing discourse regarding homosexuality from different perspectives. Three representatives with varying influences and perspectives were chosen and …

Thoughts From The Pit: Can Raving Change The World? A Literature Review Exploring Rave Culture As Expressive Arts Healing, Marissa Rose Renella

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review examines the structural and philosophical commonalities between expressive arts therapy (EXA) and rave culture. Drawing on scholarship from anthropology, cultural studies, health sciences, transpersonal psychology, neuroscience, and expressive arts therapy, this review identifies five core principles shared between the two fields: transformational experiences, multimodality, entrainment and flow, containment and ritual, and community and social action values. Across each principle, the literature reveals not surface-level similarity but deep convergence — two fields that have, independently and through different lineages, arrived at the same understanding of what human beings need in order to heal, grow, and connect. To the …

Cultivating Compassion To Support Stabilization: A Practice-Based Group Model For An Inpatient Psychiatric Trauma Unit, Sarah E. Condon

Expressive Therapies Theses

In inpatient psychiatric settings, treatment is typically oriented toward short-term stabilization rather than trauma processing. This thesis explores how self-compassion and expressive arts therapy may support stabilization for individuals with complex trauma histories, highlighting the role of self-criticism and shame as key mechanisms underlying trauma-related distress. This thesis presents the development of a multi-group therapy model implemented on a 21-bed inpatient trauma and dissociative disorders unit. The model pairs psychoeducational, compassion-oriented groups, grounded in mindful self-compassion (MSC) and compassion focused therapy (CFT), with subsequent expressive arts therapy (EXAT) groups with the intention of cohesively integrating and deepening these themes through …

Attachment Under Threat: Parental Cancer, Child Development, And Dance/Movement Therapy As An Embodied Intervention—A Literature Review, Victoria E. Groves

Expressive Therapies Theses

Parental cancer is a significant family-based stressor that can disrupt children’s attachment security and emotional regulation. This literature review examines how parental cancer can interfere with parent-child attachment processes and explores dance/movement therapy (DMT) as a potential intervention. Literature from attachment theory, psycho-oncology, trauma research, somatic psychotherapy, and DMT is synthesized into a cohesive conceptual framework linking caregiving disruption, neurobiological stress responses, and embodied patterns of regulation in children. Findings suggest that parental cancer is associated with increased attachment insecurity through changes in caregiver availability, emotional attunement, and children’s perceived attachment security. These disruptions contribute to the internalization of chronic …

Grief Journeys: A Literature Review On Integrating Expressive Arts And Play In Grief Therapy, Joanna Marcus

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review explores the use of expressive arts therapy and play therapy in therapeutic spaces for grieving children. The author seeks to investigate how elements of expressive arts therapy and play therapy might be integrated to offer more effective support. Research was conducted using search engines to gather literature about historical and contemporary bereavement theories, play therapy, and expressive arts therapy, with a focus on children’s experiences. Two primary insights gleaned from this review are that the cognitive understanding of death is multifaceted and changes as children mature, and that children grieve in ways unique to their developmental stages. …

Taking Center Stage: Centering The Caregivers Of Individuals With Neurodevelopmental Disorders In Their Support: A Literature Review, Jessica Dahl-Colaw

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review examines the relationship between the needs and challenges that caregivers of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders experience and the formal supports available to this population. Drawing upon literature from the fields of mental health, occupational therapy, speech language-pathology, public health, intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities research, and the expressive therapies, this review explores the gap in care for this vulnerable population. Through the exploration of a foundational drama therapy theory, role theory, and other elements key to drama therapy work, this review highlights the potential for drama therapy interventions to provide support for caregivers in areas such as …

Between Cultures: An Expressive Arts Community Engagement Project On Identity, Belonging, And Cultural Transition Among International Students, Shilpa Ivaturi

Expressive Therapies Theses

International students navigating cultural transition often experience disruptions not only in social adjustment but also in their sense of identity, belonging, and meaning-making. Grounded in expressive arts therapy, cross-cultural psychology, and mythopoetic frameworks of transformation, this thesis explores how creative processes can support international students in reflecting on and integrating their evolving identities during periods of cultural transition. A four-hour trauma-informed expressive arts workshop, structured around the Hero’s Journey arc of departure, initiation, and return, was facilitated across two sessions at a university in the northeastern United States. Seven international students from diverse cultural backgrounds engaged in multimodal practices including …

Ecodramatherapy To Support Recovery From Religious And Spiritual Trauma, Ashton Eleazer

Expressive Therapies Theses

Religious and spiritual (R/S) trauma is an often unrecognized form of complex trauma that results from religious beliefs, practices, or experiences that fracture survivors’ connection to the self, the body, meaning, safety, and community. An estimated 27-33% of U.S. adults are affected (Slade et al., 2023). R/S trauma shares features with complex PTSD and Developmental Trauma Disorder, but also includes moral injury, existential questioning, communal, and embodied shame. This literature review examines the potential of ecodramatherapy, a combined approach of drama therapy and ecotherapy, to support reconnection and recovery in survivors of R/S trauma. A targeted review of peer-reviewed literature …

Arts-Based Violence Prevention For Youth: A Literature Review, Amber Lynn Isaac

Expressive Therapies Theses

This narrative literature review examines arts-based approaches to violence prevention and trauma-related support among school-aged children and adolescents in school and community settings. Violence is conceptualized as both interpersonal and structural, encompassing physical, emotional, relational, and systemic harms that arise through unequal access to safety, opportunity, and resources. The review then explores how these conditions increase vulnerability to trauma exposure, particularly among youth in marginalized and underserved communities, and considers the psychological impacts of violence on youth development. Centering the resilience of children and adolescents through relational strengths, adaptive coping strategies, and creative capacities, this review then examines the benefits …

Incorporating Principles And Wisdom From Hospital Chaplaincy And Pastoral Ministry To Create A Ministry Model To Address Social Isolation And Loneliness In Black Churches, Albert A. Kemp

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

To address the growing and widespread epidemic of social isolation and loneliness, with special focus on Black churches, this dissertation developed a program with the following areas of application: 1) how healthcare trained chaplains can coordinate with churches to positively impact individuals identified as lonely and socially isolated with better social and physical health, 2) how principles of chaplaincy and pastoral care can mitigate and intervene competently when such people are identified, and 3) how the project’s model can be organized, taught, and incorporated into existing arenas of church ministry.

The purpose of the project was to create a ministry …

The Church As Provider Of Pastoral Care: Relational Presence, Narrative Listening, Preaching, And Advocacy In African American Missionary Baptist Churches In Southside Fort Worth, Texas, Michael R. Timberlake

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

Abstract

Michael R. Timberlake, Sr.

May 1, 2026

THE CHURCH AS PROVIDER OF PASTORAL CARE: RELATIONAL PRESENCE, NARRATIVE LISTENING, PREACHING, AND ADVOCACY IN AFRICAN AMERICAN MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCHES IN SOUTHSIDE FORT WORTH, TEXAS

The purpose of this research project is to restore and maintain the resiliency in the African American Missionary Baptist churches in the Southside of Fort Worth, Texas. The research identified a high level of importance for African American churches in Fort Worth to resemble the historic legacy of spiritual leadership, communal care, and social advocacy while ministering within contexts marked by racial and economic marginalization. Enabling practical …

Exploring Color-Blind Racial Attitudes And Critical Race Theory - Informed Beliefs Among School Social Workers, Faith E. King

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

Black Americans face unequal rates of psychological distress and misdiagnosis primarily due to systemic racism embedded in institutions. Despite these alarming realities, current mental health frameworks often cling to biased perceptions of wellness facilitated by White, Eurocentric norms that pathologize communal resilience and cultural expressions of healing. In clinical spaces, these realities are too often erased by the biased meanings and individualistic norms that render Black grief pathological and Black resistance dysfunctional. Dominant therapeutic modalities labeled “evidence-based” remain rooted in racially neutral, individualist assumptions that exclude the lived experiences of Black clients, as they were developed for them. The National …

Spring Undergraduate Commencement: May 16, 2026, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Spring Undergraduate Commencement program from May 16, 2026.

Spring Graduate School Commencement: May 16, 2026, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Spring Graduate School Commencement program from May 16, 2026.

The Academic Workplace Climate Measure: A New Instrument To Measure Counselor Education Faculty Climate, Ryan Holliman, Ryan D. Foster, Pedro Blanco

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Research indicates that between 32% and 62% of faculty in higher education have experienced some form of incivility (Cassell, 2011; Fox, 2010; Heffernan & Bosetti, 2020; Hollis, 2012; Keashly & Neuman, 2008; McKay et al., 2008). Incivility among faculty can be associated with declining health, decreased faculty retention, diminished self-esteem, and lowered psychological well-being (McClendon et al., 2021; Miner et al., 2012; Raskauskas & Skrabec, 2011). Although counselor educators are presumably experts in effective communication and conflict negotiation, anecdotal reports of conflict in counselor education departments are frequent. This study developed an instrument called the Academic Workplace Climate Measure. In …

Understanding Counselor Burnout From An Ecological Systems Perspective, Stephanie Thorson-Olesen, Lisa Belknap, Emily Velidow, Jessica Gaul, Phoenix Rosewood, Nayara Aparecida Da Costa Silva Beall

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory as a guiding framework, this study explored the experiences of licensed counselors who self-identified as having recovered from burnout. Burnout was conceptualized as a prolonged response to chronic occupational stress, while participants were invited to describe their experiences based on their own lived understandings of the phenomenon. A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted using data collected through an anonymous online survey featuring open-ended prompts. Participants included 32 licensed counselors who graduated from CACREP-accredited programs and reported previously experiencing burnout and no longer identifying as currently burned out. Thematic analysis yielded nine interrelated themes encompassing contributors, …

Navigating The Borderlands: Testimonios Of First-Generation Chicanas In Counselor Education, Jessenia Garcia, Heather Trepal

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

This research applies Anzaldúa’s (1987) Borderlands Theory to examine the testimonios of first-generation Chicana faculty in counselor education. A narrative methodology was employed (n=10), leading to the identification of several themes that illuminate their unique challenges and resilience. Four themes emerged: (a) balancing worlds: family and academia, (b) weaving identity into academia, (c) cultural identity in the borderlands, and (d) disrupting borders, including the subtheme: Red tape and higher ed mafia. These findings provide insight into the institutional barriers and identity navigation experienced by these faculty members. Recommendations for recruitment and retention are included.

Conceptualizing Professional Identity Development In Art Therapy Supervision With Post-Graduate Art Therapists Who Are Pre-Licensed, Christine S. Atkinson

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study explored how art therapy supervisors conceptualize professional identity development (PID) in supervision with postgraduate art therapists who were pre-licensed. There was limited empirical research on how art therapy supervisors understood and support PID within art therapy supervision, particularly during the transitional period between graduate training and professional licensure. This study addressed the research question: How do art therapy supervisors conceptualize PID in supervision with postgraduate art therapists who are pre-licensed?

Fourteen art therapy supervisors participated in the study (86% female; 14% non-binary), ranging in age from 25 to over 65 years old. All participants identified their race or …

Photovoice As A Resilience Tool For Helping Professionals In Complex Trauma Work, Pamela Lie

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Helping professionals (HPs) working with complex trauma operate in emotionally demanding environments that place them at increased risk of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue. Resilience has therefore been identified as an important resource for sustaining well-being and effective practice. While photovoice has shown potential as a participatory approach for fostering resilience across diverse populations, its application among HPs engaged in complex trauma work, particularly within Asian contexts, remains limited. This study examined how seven HPs engaged in complex trauma work from a single organization in Singapore experienced and perceived photovoice as a resilience-building tool. The study employed a …

Sesquicentennial Commencement [Program], May 15-16, 2026, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Commencement Programs

Contents:

Brief History of UNI --- 2
Board of Regents --- 3
Institutional Leadership --- 3
Ceremony Symbols & Traditions --- 4
Commencement Over the Years --- 6
University Honors Program --- 8
Graduation with Honors --- 8
Legacy Graduates --- 8
Military Science --- 9
Merchant Scholarship --- 9
Outstanding Student Leader --- 9
Commencement Student Speakers --- 9
Purple and Old Gold Awards --- 10
Lux Service Award --- 11
7 p.m. Program --- 13
College of Education --- 15
David W. Wilson College of Business --- 22
10 a.m. Program --- 29
College of Humanities, Arts & …

2026 Commencement Program For The School Of Arts And Sciences, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2026 Commencement Program For The School Of Arts And Sciences – Accessible Version, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2026 Commencement Program For The School Of Education And Social Policy, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2026 Commencement Program For The School Of Education And Social Policy – Accessible Version, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

“There Was Nothing Left To Give”: Experiences Of Compassion Fatigue Among Former In-Patient Psychiatric Clinicians, Katie Ladner

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

Compassion Fatigue (CF) is a state of emotional and physical exhaustion resulting from prolonged exposure to stressful or traumatic experiences, specifically among healthcare workers, and it negatively impacts their ability to provide care to their patients and perform their jobs effectively (Singh et al., 2020). The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the lived experiences of compassion fatigue in mental health clinicians who previously worked in in-patient psychiatric hospitals and their subsequent resignations. This phenomenological research explored participants' understanding and descriptions of their CF experiences in their roles within psychiatric hospitals and how CF contributed to their leaving …

Proximal Stress And Gender Identity: The Role Of Internalized Transphobia In Future Expectations, Maribelle Almonacy

Student Theses and Dissertations

Transgender and non-conforming (TGNC) youth and young adults are more likely to experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress due to identity-specific abuse. Studies on the impact of trauma on negative expectations in high-risk youth show a high association between pessimism, nihilism, and instability. Internalized transphobia, similarly, is correlated with negative mental health outcomes, such as depression and anxiety, and the internalization of social messages and discrimination. These studies are not specific to the experiences of gender minorities and do not explore the intersections of internalized stressors or trauma in young adults. To address this gap in literature, this study sought to …

Feasibility Of Staff Training In Facilitating Affirmative Moving With Unhoused Lgbtq+ Individuals, Sujin Ma

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Homelessness-service environments require non-clinical frontline staff to manage frequent crises and provide relational support to sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals with extensive trauma and minority stress histories. However, staff training often prioritizes didactic knowledge over embodied skills that support emotional regulation, attunement, and identity-affirming engagement. Grounded in trauma-informed care, minority stress theory, and somatic learning, this mixed-methods study examined the feasibility and preliminary patterns of change associated with an embodied staff training designed to prepare non-clinical workers to facilitate Affirmative Moving (AM), a brief movement-based, LGBTQ+-affirming support group model.

The study was conducted between July and September 2025 at …

Performatic Learning In Informal Education: A Mixed Methods Study Of Zine-Making As A Catalyst For Intentional Epistemic Claiming, Experiential Knowing, And Cultural Mediation In A Museum-Based Learning Environment, April Ursula Fox

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Informal learning environments are powerful sites of meaning-making when learners are invited to move from observer to author. This study positions zine-making as an effective educational tool capable of promoting that transformation. The study advances a new framework—Performatic Learning—to articulate how creative, multimodal practices can support learning as becoming. Developed through foundational pilot studies and an in-depth mixed-methods investigation in a natural history museum, the framework integrates five constructs: Intentional Epistemic Claiming, Experiential Knowing, Cultural Mediation, Performatic Space, and Learning as Becoming. Across cases, zine-making emerged as a generative learning space in which participants authored knowledge, navigated uncertainty, drew on …

Stalking Victimization Risk Factors Among College-Aged Men And Women: Does Relationship Type Matter?, Nicole Cebak

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research assessing stalking—or a pattern of repeated, unwanted behaviors directed at a specific individual that causes fear, distress, or concern for their safety—has identified several factors that can increase a person’s vulnerability to this form of victimization (e.g., demographic predictors, lifestyle factors, individual characteristics) (Fissel et al., 2023; Fox et al., 2016; Reyns et al., 2016; Reyns & Scherer, 2016). However, stalking can manifest within a wide range of relational contexts, suggesting that risk factors identified for stalking victimization more broadly may be insufficient across different victim-offender relationship types (e.g., stranger, intimate partner) (Reyns et al., 2016; Strauss et al., …

Voices Under Constraint: College Students’ Self-Censorship, Empowered Resistance, And Solidarity, Richard Chang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Self-censorship, empowered resistance, and solidarity are critical yet understudied phenomena that shape the lived experiences of college students from racially marginalized communities. The present research comprises three studies examining the interconnected roles of these constructs in the psychosocial well-being and collective action of racially marginalized college students in the United States, specifically in the context of students’ activism behaviors during the 2023 and ongoing genocide in Gaza. Chapter 2 will present findings from an online mixed-methods study that examines college students’ self-censorship and psychological distress factors that support or hinder open discussion during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Results suggest …