Caroline Hanson is a rising senior at The College of the Holy Cross majoring in psychology and minoring in education. Her academic interests include adolescent mental health, parent-child relationships, providing culturally sensitive care to underserved populations, and the intersections between psychology and education. She hopes to pursue a doctoral degree and build a career as a school psychologist, while also providing private practice-based therapy to adolescents.
This summer, Caroline worked under the supervision of Dr. Sabrina Hermosilla on the Sport Coach+ project, which explores how sport can be a protective factor for the mental health and wellbeing of youth and adolescents affected by displacement. Her primary responsibilities included conducting literature reviews to identify research in similar humanitarian contexts, supporting quantitative data analysis, and examining the importance of culturally adapting mental health interventions across diverse settings. Through this experience, she strengthened her quantitative research skills, deepened her interest and understanding of culturally sensitive programming, and gained valuable insight into global mental health research.
Caroline is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to research that promotes the well-being of displaced youth. She finished out the summer inspired by the mentorship and support she received; and also looks forward to continuing her work in the adolescent mental health world.