Elizabeth Hicks, M.S.

 Elizabeth (Tish) is a 4th-year clinical/counseling psychology Ph.D. student at Utah State University, where she also completed her M.S. She received her B.A. in Psychology at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, and studied abroad at Univerzita Karlova in Prague, Czech Republic. Her research combines her interests in multicultural psychology and third-wave cognitive-behavioral therapies (acceptance, mindfulness, and values-based approaches), by focusing on interventions to increase cultural competence while examining the utility of incorporating mindfulness techniques to improve these interventions. In clinical work, she values taking a humanistic, strengths-based approach while utilizing a range of evidence-based treatments (e.g. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and other cognitive-behavioral approaches). She enjoys working with clients on a broad variety of mental health concerns, such as anxiety, trauma, adjustment, identity, depression, and health-related concerns. 

Some of Tish's Research:

Cornachione, H. (2020, June 15). Cultural competency course aims to help USU faculty better support native American students. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from Upr.org website: https://www.upr.org/post/cultural-competency-course-aims-help-usu-faculty-better-support-native-american-students

Krafft, J., Hicks, E. T., Mack, S. A., & Levin, M. E. (2019). Psychological inflexibility predicts suicidality over time in college students. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 49(5), 1488–1496.

Levin, M. E., Hicks, E. T., & Krafft, J. (2020). Pilot evaluation of the stop, breathe & think mindfulness app for student clients on a college counseling center waitlist. Journal of American College Health,1-9. doi:10.1080/07448481.2020.1728281

Levin, M. E., Krafft, J., Hicks, E. T., Pierce, B., & Twohig, M. P. (2020). A randomized dismantling trial of the open and engaged components of acceptance and commitment therapy in an online intervention for distressed college students. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 126(103557), 103557.

Some Resources that Tish Recommends:

The animated videos from Dr. Russ Harris's youtube channel. 
Recommended for: People looking to implement Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) skills in their own life, or clinicians trying to learn ACT.
Reason for recommendation: There are videos that illustrate and explain ACT metaphors and other mental health concepts very well, which can be helpful for applying them in one's life.

The My Life (formerly known as Stop, Breathe, & Think) YouTube Channel and App.
Recommended for: Anyone looking for guided mindfulness exercises.
Reason for recommendation: Great guided mindfulness exercises with much variety. The app has the option to begin with a check-in followed by recommended exercises based on how you're doing. You can also go straight to the full library of exercises to explore and choose. They also added the "Calming Coronavirus Anxiety", "For Youth of ColorR" and "For Latinx Youth" collections free in addition to the usual free content. (There is an optional premium version of the app, but the free version has a lot of great content). 

The Calm App and the Headspace App.
Recommended for: Anyone looking for guided mindfulness exercises.
Reason for recommendation: Both are great guided mindfulness exercises with much variety. There is an optional premium version of each app, but the free version have a lot of great content as well. For the Calm app, there are also many resources specifically to help with sleep and anxiety, and lovely nature and calming sounds/backgrounds.