Sarah Velez-Osorio is a rising senior at the University of Central Florida, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Statistics. Her passion lies at the intersection of global and national mental health policy and counseling psychology, stemming from her diverse experiences in psychological roles. Sarah aims to specialize in implementation science to develop accessible, culturally adapted mental health interventions for diverse populations. She is also dedicated to advocating for improved mental health care policies and systems.
This summer, Sarah had the opportunity to work with Dr. Jennifer J. Mootz on a project implementing Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Couples (IPT-C) to treat common mental disorders for women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in Mozambique. In this role, she collaborated weekly with clinicians and research assistants in Mozambique, contributing to the screening phase of the project. Her responsibilities included creating and translating a checklist into Portuguese to aid researchers and assisting in developing the REDCap database for screening potential participants. Additionally, she is co-authoring a manuscript on adapting IPT-C in Mozambique, set for publication.
Sarah is immensely grateful for this invaluable experience, which has honed her research interests and empowered her to pursue her dream career. She looks forward to returning to Dr. Mootz’s lab this fall to continue co-authoring the manuscript and supporting the team in Mozambique.