LAB Alumni

Dara Rosdobutko graduated from the HBA in Psychology program with a minor in Aging and Health at Lakehead University in 2023. She commenced her second undergraduate degree in the 1-year HBSW program in July 2023. With a keen eye for research, Dara assumed the role of a research assistant in 2022, contributing to the coordination of participants for the pilot study of the JoyPop app within the Coping Research lab. Her primary interest lies in mental health and public health research, with a specific emphasis on evaluating service access in Northwestern Ontario.

Victoria completed her Masters with Dr. Mushquash in 2016.

Hailey Gilmour completed her honours thesis with Dr. Mushquash in 2019. Her project focused on the congruence between parent and child coping behaviours and how that related to parent-child relationship quality.

Jessica Coran is an undergraduate student who previously volunteered in the lab. She supported worked with Dr. Mushquash and Allie Popowich on the attachment, coping, and relationship quality study.

Jessica is an undergraduate student who previously volunteered in the lab. She supported worked with Dr. Mushquash and Allie Popowich on the attachment, coping, and relationship quality study.

Kaitlyn was a volunteer research assistant and supported a study on attachment, coping, and relationship quality. Her research interests are in anxiety and mood disorders, trauma, and interpersonal relationships.

Tori was a volunteer research assistant for a study on attachment, coping and relationship quality. Her areas of interest are in personality traits, emotions, and genetics.

Kendra Ryan is in her fourth year of the specialized HBA psychology program. For her thesis project she is examining the role of technoference and communication satisfaction on intimacy among couples in romantic relationships. Other research interests include childhood attachment, child and developmental psychology, relationship quality, and mental health.

Nolan is in the third year of the HBSc of Psychology program, as well as completing a minor in Biology. He is volunteering as a research assistant for a study on attachment, coping and relationship quality. His interests are in mental development, coping mechanisms, and somatoform disorders.

Laija Beaulieu is in her second year of the HBA of Psychology program. She is currently a volunteer research assistant supporting a study on promoting resilience in undergraduate students. Laija’s interests surround early social relationships, childhood development, coping strategies, parent and child attachment relationships, and how families cope with stressful or difficult life events.

Mary Cassano completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology and is currently volunteering in the lab.

Allie began the PhD program in Clinical Psychology in 2017. She will be completing her residency with the Northern Ontario Psychology Internship Consortium. Her dissertation research involved examining the relationship between attachment in childhood to primary caregivers, attachment within romantic relationships, abilities to manage emotions and conflict, and romantic relationship functioning. Allie’s other areas of interest include implementation science and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. For her Master’s thesis, she investigated the factors that facilitate or hinder the delivery and sustainability of Dialectal Behaviour Therapy across programs and organizations in Thunder Bay. Allie’s graduate studies are supported by funds from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Kara is a Masters student in the Clinical Psychology program at Lakehead University. For her Master’s thesis project, she examined the role of executive function on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and functional outcomes in emerging adults. Her research interests include early intervention, wellness intervention, attachment in childhood and paediatric health/wellness. Her past research areas include DBT, resilience, as well as mental health and addictions.

Laura began the the PhD program in Clinical Psychology in 2017. She will be completing her residency with the Edmonton Consortium Clinical Psychology Residency program from 2021-2022. Broadly speaking, Laura’s research interests involve examining biopsychosocial influences on eating behaviour with the aim of enhancing current understanding of eating disorders, disordered eating, and weight management. Her dissertation research seeks to examine the role of heart rate variability, attentional bias to food, and perceptions of safety in eliciting stress-induced disinhibited eating among restrained eaters. For her Master’s thesis, Laura explored the role of the mirror neuron system in predicting individuals’ susceptibility to the social modelling of eating effect, whereby individuals tend to match the quantity of their food intake to their eating companions.

Elizabeth began the MA program in Clinical Psychology at Lakehead University in 2021. Her research interests involve understanding the impacts of adverse experiences on individual adjustment and regulation capacity as well as interventions to mitigate maladaptive behaviours. Her MA thesis will seek to define a minimal clinically important difference for emotion regulation through the evaluation of an e-mental health resilience-building tool, the JoyPopTM app, with youth seeking mental health treatment in Thunder Bay. Elizabeth's graduate studies are supported by funds from the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship and St. Joseph's Care Group Award in Applied Health Research.

Anastasia is in the HBSc Psychology program, with a minor in Biology. She is currently a volunteer research assistant in the lab. Her areas of interests include language and communication disorders, neuropsychology, and child development.

Robyn is a Research Assistant in the lab. She began the HBSc Biology program in 2020, and has been assisting with various studies in the lab since her first year. She mainly assisted with data collection for a study looking at the influence of a perfectionistic social environment/personal ideals on maladjustment in undergraduate students. For her undergraduate thesis, Robyn is researching the effects of a combination drug treatment on skeletal muscle physiology at NOSM University. She aspires to work as a physician in the future. Outside of the lab, Robyn spends her spare time going to the gym, playing/watching sports, and spending time with family.

Shaelynn graduated from Lakehead University in May 2023 with an HBSc in Psychology. Her thesis was on the differences between first year and fourth year undergraduate students in daily stress and coping. 

She really enjoyed working under the supervision of Dr. Musquash (and co-supervisor Angela!). She had a really great and supportive group of peers in her honour thesis seminar.

From the birth of her son in July 2023 into 2024, Shaelynn will be focusing on her family in the role of a homemaker.

Chi completed her BA, honoring in psychology at St. Thomas University in 2022. After graduation, she began working as a clinical research assistant at St. John Regional Hospital and a volunteer research assistant at the lab. Her areas of research interests include multi-dimensional perfectionism, stress and burn-out, depression, impostor syndrome, personality disorders, and psychotherapies. Chi hopes to go to graduate school after 2-3 years of working to gain more research experiences.