Florida State University Marriage & Family Therapy Program

JMFT News: Meet one of our JMFT apprentice reviewers, Xinyun Zhang [Kaikai]!

Xinyun is an MFT doctoral student at Florida State University. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Ohio State University and her master’s degree from the University of Akron. She has experience working with families with adolescents displaying clinically significant behavioral and mental health concerns in residential and in-home settings. Her research interests include the effects of co-parenting on children’s wellbeing and how therapists’ cultural backgrounds may affect the implementation of systemic theoretical approaches in sessions.

Thank you for your hard work Kaikai!

Congratulations to Dr. Sungmin "Pearl" Park for defending her dissertation! We are so proud of you!! 🥳👏

Congratulations to Dr. Dania Tawfiq for defending her dissertation! We are so proud of you! 🥳👏

Congratulations to Crystal, who earned the CEHHS Dissertation Award and the FAHS Diversity Scholarship for Emerging Leaders Award! We are so glad that these awards recognize your hard work, and we are so proud of you!!

We are thrilled to announce that our MFT program was recently named as the recipient of the AAMFT Training Award! We are excited and grateful that our dedication to the field of marriage and family therapy is being prestigiously recognized! Go Noles!!

Congratulations to Nakita, who earned the AAMFT 2024 Graduate Student Research Award! This is the 12th time in 13 years that an FSU MFT student has received an AAMFT national research award! We are so proud of you!

Congratulations to Dr. Kinsey Pocchio for recently defending her dissertation! 👏

We are excited to share that MFP fellows from Florida State University visited Congressman Neal Dunn’s office in DC to advocate for the Minority Fellowship Program today.

Congratulations to Dr. Soojin Han for recently defending her dissertation! 👏

What a bittersweet celebration of our 2024 graduates (or should we say, doctors)! We are so proud of each of you and excited for your next steps.

Crystal, Carson, and Dr. Lenore McWey recently traveled to Japan to present their research at the International Family Therapy Association (IFTA) World Family Therapy Conference. Their travels were filled with lots of learning and fun! Way to represent! 💛❤️

Introducing this week’s fabulous student spotlight, Frances! 🔦

Frances received her B.S. in Biological Sciences and her M.S./Ed.S degrees in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the Florida State University. Frances is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of Florida and currently works in private practice helping individuals, couples, and families in the aftermath of trauma. Her primary research interests include adverse childhood experiences, therapeutic development and training, gatekeeping in the mental health professions and parent-child relationships. Frances aims to play a role in shaping the next generation of therapists and fostering progress in the field of systemic mental health. Frances is an active mother of 4 boys. In her spare time, she can be found exploring, wrestling, and gardening with her family. She enjoys cooking, reading, and anything artistic.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Lexie Unhjem on her successful dissertation defense! 👏

Introducing this week’s terrific student spotlight, Tyler! 🔦

Tyler got his master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Southern Mississippi, and received his bachelor's degree in Percussion Performance at Brigham Young University in Utah (go Cougs!). His primary area of interest for research is studying healthy and unhealthy expressions of religiosity and how they can strengthen or weaken relationships. Tyler enjoys playing and writing music, and loves most everything nerdy (anime, dungeons and dragons, Pokemon, etc.). He also is a sucker for dad jokes.

We had a blast chatting and enjoying our Lunch on Landis! Thank you to our GSO Social Chair, Dylann, for helping us connect and spend time together outside of the classroom. 💗

We are happy to announce that Dr. Chrystal McDowell successfully defended her dissertation!

Several of our students recently presented their work at the FSU College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences Research Showcase. The amount and quality of scholarly work created here is incredible. Well done all! 👏

Introducing this week’s spectacular student spotlight, Kaikai! 🔦

Kaikai earned her bachelor's degree in psychology at the Ohio State University and her master’s degree at University of Akron. She also worked with families with adolescents that were displaying moderate to severe behavioral and/or mental health problems in both in-home and residential settings for two and a half years. Kaikai also holds independent licensure in both the state of Florida and Ohio. Her research interests include how co-parenting affect children’s social and/or mental well-being and how therapist’s cultural backgrounds may affect the implementation of certain theoretical approaches in sessions. In her spare time, Kaikai enjoys finding interesting docuseries/documentaries on Netflix and Hulu and put them in her to-watch list (maybe she will watch all of them someday…) and spending time with her cat, Noctis. She also sometimes indulges K-drama, anime, music, and podcasts. Although she may not be the best when it comes to techniques, she really enjoys video games and explore the fantasy world as the protagonist.

Dr. Nakita Carroll successfully defended her dissertation. Please join us in wishing her congratulations! We are so proud of you!

Dylann, Carson, and Crystal recently attended AAMFT’s Leadership Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona where they connected with and learned from leaders in our field. Dylann and Carson also presented on their “TIPs for Parents” parenting group and intervention study. Way to go!

Introducing this week’s wonderful student spotlight, Ava Joy! 🔦

Ava Joy received her B.S. from The University of Florida in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, and her M.Ed. in Professional Counseling (Mental Health Counseling) and a certificate in MFT from The University of Georgia. She enjoys understanding the relationship between self-of-therapist work and its impact on clinical, research, and personal development. Ava Joy’s areas of research interests include aging populations and their interpersonal relationships, and animal-assisted therapy work. Her professional goal is to work towards finding a balance of working as a clinician, researcher, and instructor. Outside of academia, Ava Joy is passionate about both the outdoors and arts and crafts. She loves swimming, hiking, backpacking, and climbing. She also loves sewing, crocheting, and creating with her cricut. Ava Joy also enjoys spending time with her dog, Winston, who is a therapy dog!

We are so proud to announce that Dr. Katie Morris successfully defended her dissertation!

Introducing this week’s superb student spotlight, Daniel! 🔦

Daniel received his undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Science and his master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Daniel’s research interests include any work related to couples, especially in the topics of mindfulness, self-compassion, emotion regulation, emotional and physiological reactivity, and links between all of these and attachment or trauma. Daniel’s professional goals include becoming academic faculty in a Marriage and Family Therapy program where he can contribute to both research and clinical work. As an Utah native, Daniel thoroughly enjoys any outdoor activities and loves spending time in the mountains skiing or hiking. Most of all he enjoys spending time doing anything with his wife and two children.

We are elated to announce that Dr. Darrian McKiernan successfully defended her dissertation!