Tiara McKinney is a rising senior at Dickinson College, completing a double major in Psychology and Spanish. As an international student from The Bahamas, Tiara has schooled in the United States for 8 years and has noticed that the stigma around mental health in both her home community and marginalized communities in the United States prevent disadvantaged people from receiving support. In the future, Tiara aspires to work as both a researcher and clinician, examining the effects of social disparities on people’s mental health and development. Tiara’s long-term goal is to increase the accessibility and visibility of mental health resources such as psychotherapy.
This summer, Tiara worked with Dr. Geoffrey Reed to test the Flexible Interview of the 11th International Classification of Diseases (FLII-11). Tiara’s responsibilities entailed examining coding errors in the FLII-11 Qualtrics survey and suggesting improvements and attending implementation meetings with international representatives who are testing the efficacy of the FLII-11 in their respective countries. Tiara’s main role was conducting a literature review on the Global Clinical Practice Network (GCPN), the largest interdisciplinary and multilingual practice-based research network founded by the WHO. Tiara’s research will inform the direction of the GCPN. Throughout the course of the internship, Tiara improved her writing and investigative skills while developing an increased understanding of the logistics of research.
Tiara McKinney is immensely thankful for participating in the CUGMHP and to have worked with professionals in the mental health field and budding professionals alike. Tiara is confident and hopeful about her future in the mental health field.