Doctoral Students
Michelle Paluszek
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Student
Michelle graduated from the University of Manitoba with her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology. She completed her Masters degree at the University of Regina in Clinical Psychology under the supervision of Dr. Gordon Asmundson. Her Masters thesis, supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship Master's Award, examined transdiagnostic vulnerability factors that contribute to COVID-19-related distress. Michelle's doctoral research is supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award. Michelle’s dissertation focuses on further understanding the connection between adverse childhood experiences, mental disorders, and physical health problems using network analysis. Her interests broadly include investigating the impact of trauma and adverse childhood experiences as well as understanding the complex relationship between physical health and mental health. She is currently on residency at the Calgary Clinical Psychology Residency Program in Calgary, AB.
Robyn Shields
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Student
Robyn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology from Mount Royal University in 2017. She is now a second year clinical psychology PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Nick Carleton. Her research interests include operational stress injuries in Public Safety Personnel, but she has a particular fondness for studying paramedics, as she was a registered paramedic in Alberta for 10 years prior to pursuing her psychology degree. Her dissertation is a qualitative investigation of avoidance behaviour in Canadian paramedics.
Geoffrey Rachor
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Student
Geoffrey received his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology from MacEwan University in 2017, and his Master of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Alberta in 2020. He received his Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology in 2022, and is currently pursuing his Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology under the supervision of Dr. Gordon Asmundson. His primary research interests are in studying the relationships between chronic pain and anxiety-related disorders. His Doctoral research focuses on exploring a graded exercise intervention for individuals with long-COVID and chronic pain, and is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award.
Caeleigh Landry
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Student
Caeleigh received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology in 2019 and a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology in 2022, both from the University of Regina. Her master’s thesis, under the supervision of Drs. Nicholas Carleton and Heather Hadjistavropoulos, focused on the efficacy of internet-delivered mindfulness-based protocols for Public Safety Personnel. Caeleigh is in the process of completing her doctoral studies in clinical psychology at the University of Regina. For her doctoral dissertation, she is conducting a factorial study to examine the impact of different resource presentations and differing levels of ICBT course structure on outcomes in ICBT for public safety personnel. Caeleigh’s primary field of interest is the prevention and treatment of mental disorder symptoms in public safety personnel.
Juliana Khoury
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Student
Juliana completed a Bachelor of Humanities (Hons) with a Minor in Political Science at Carleton University in 2019, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Psychology with a Special Concentration in Forensic Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University in 2021. Her psychology honours thesis examined factors that affect female undergraduates' ability to accurately assess their risk of experiencing sexual violence. Her master's thesis examined the prevalence and impacts of sexual violence among RCMP. Her dissertation, under the supervision of Dr. Nick Carleton, will focus on Canadian police perceptions of legislation concerning civilian assaults on peace officers. Juliana's primary research interests are mental health among public safety personnel, and sexual violence.
Blake Boehme
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Student
Blake completed a Master of Science degree under the supervision of Dr. Asmundson in 2023 and a Bachelor of Arts degree, supervised by Dr. Joel Katz, from York University in 2021. He is a former paramedic and member of the Canadian Forces. His primary research interest is developing and applying personalized clinical psychological care for clients with PTSD using the emerging statistical procedures from network theory. Blake is currently conducting the first research project to assess individual networks of psychopathology in Canadian Veterans with PTSD. The Dr. Mark Zamorski Award, sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, supports this work. He continues to publish scientific articles related to cross-sectional network models of PTSD, major depression, and generalized anxiety and validation studies of COVID-19-related measures of distress.
Laura Kinsman
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Student
Laura graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Winnipeg. She is currently in the first year of her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Regina. Her master's thesis, supervised by Dr. Gordon Asmundson, was a population-representative examination of the prevalence and predictors of alcohol use disorder among Canadian military personnel with military sexual trauma. Laura's master's research was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Master's award. Additional research interests of Laura's include comorbid PTSD and alcohol misuse, adverse childhood experiences, and anxiety disorders.
Master's Students
Holden Norrie
M.Sc. Clinical Psychology Student
Holden is a second year clinical psychology student at the University of Regina under the supervision of Dr. Gordon Asmundson. His research interests include the psychopathology of anxiety-related disorders, PTSD, and transdiagnostic traits that underlie anxiety-related disorders. His interest in health psychology primarily concerns the effectiveness of exercise-based interventions on transdiagnostic traits that underlie anxiety-related disorders.
Joanna Vint
M.Sc. Clinical Psychology Student
Joanna graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Regina. She is currently in her second year of a Masters of Science in Clinical Psychology degree under the supervision of Dr. Asmundson. Her general research interests include anxiety and mood-related disorders, exercise-based interventions such as yoga, posttraumatic stress disorder, and personality.
Eric Tessier
M.Sc. Clinical Psychology Student
Eric received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Regina (UofR) in 2010, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology at the UofR in 2024. His honours thesis examined risk and protective factors predicting depression in a population-representative sample of Canadians. He is currently completing a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology at the UofR under the supervision of Dr. Gordon Asmundson. His research interests include anxiety and mood disorders, risk and protective factors associated with psychopathology, individual differences promoting resilience, and the efficacy of interventions for chronic disorders.
Kayla Kirby
M.Sc. Clinical Psychology Student
Kayla is in her first year of her MSc in Clinical Psychology at the University of Regina, supervised by Dr. Nick Carleton. She previously graduated with a BSc Honours in Psychology from the University of Regina in 2023. Her research interests lie in the health and wellness of families exposed to high stress and trauatic experiences as well as the prevention and treatment of post traumatic stress injuries, anxiety, and mood disorders.
Amanda Feitosa
M.Sc. Clinical Psychology Student
Amanda received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology at the Federal University of Sergipe (Brasil). She is currently a first-year MSc clinical psychology student under the supervision of Dr. Asmundson. Amanda is interested in conducting systematic reviews focused on anxiety-related disorders interventions among people with chronic medical conditions.Honours Students
Brian Cao
B.A. (Honours) Student
Brian is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology under the supervision of Dr. Gordon Asmundson. His research interests include anxiety and mood disorders, PTSD, and the bidrectional relationship between mental health and physical health.
Staff
Braeden Hysuick-Weik
Lab Coordinator/Research Associate
braeden.hysuick-weik@uregina.ca
Braeden received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Regina in 2024, and is currently working as the lab coordinator and a research associate for the Anxiety and Illness Behaviours Lab. Braeden's research interests include transdiagnostic processes, interventions for anxiety and mood disorders, and how social phenomena and anxiety disorders interact. For his honours thesis, Braeden explored the relationship between the contamination dimension of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and moral judgement of indviduals displaying signs of contagious illness.