Recent Diversity Committee Sponsored Events

Fall 2006

Devon Hinton, M.D., Ph.D.
Title: "Adapting CBT for Treating PTSD among Refugees: Cambodian Examples"

September 20, 2006

The Diversity Committee was honored to present a talk by Devon Hinton, M.D., Ph.D., about integrating mindfulness with Cognitive Behavior Therapy to treat Cambodian Refugees with PTSD. Dr. Hinton’s area of research expertise is cross-cultural psychiatry. He was the first to describe a culturally unique form of panic disorder, and led a research team to develop a culturally sensitive manualized treatment protocol for treatment of Cambodian refugees with PTSD. Currently, his research is among the 10 most cited in the Journal of Transcultural Psychiatry. Dr. Hinton is Senior Psychiatrist and Associate Medical Director of the Southeast Asian Community Clinical at the North Suffolk Mental Health Association. To learn more about Dr. Hinton’s work click here.

Marina Livshits, Ph.D.
Title: "Immigration Stress and Psychological Adjustment among Russian-Speaking Immigrants: Cultural and Clinical Aspects of Care"

October 25, 2006

This presentation was part of the Diversity Committee sponsored colloquium series. Dr. Marina Livshits presented on mental health issues of immigrants in the United States, diversity within Russian-speaking immigrant groups, the stress of immigration, and clinical approaches to working with this population.

Dr. Livshits has been an advocate for the immigrant community for over ten years.  In her different roles as researcher, clinician, and a community member, Marina has strived to serve the needs of both her own community of Russian-speakers and those of a larger immigrant community. Presently she works as a clinical Coordinator for Kol Isha, a Jewish Domestic Violence Program at Jewish Family and Children’s Service in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she implements programs for survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, provides direct services and clinical supervision and training to staff, interns, and volunteers, and is an active consultant and a public speaker in the community.

Title: "HIV Medication Adherence Interventions Conducted at Fenway Community Health and Massachusetts General Hospital"

April 4, 2007

Dr. Steven Safren is the Director of the Behavioral Medicine Service. He is also an Associate Professor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Cognitive Behavioral and Behavioral Medicine Tracks of the MGH clinical psychology internship, and a Senior Research Scientist at Fenway Community Health. Dr. Safren received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Albany (State University of New York) in 1998, and did his internship and post-doctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

His work on adherence to HIV has been extended internationally through collaborations with the HIV Prevention Trials Network and The AIDS Clinical Trials Group, with a particular focus in India. He is currently expanding his work in HIV by forming collaborations with specialists in other medical conditions at Massachusetts General Hospital.  Within the field of CBT, Dr. Safren’s most recent focus has been on adult ADHD. He completed one of the only randomized controlled trials of a psychosocial intervention for adults with ADHD.

Title: “Lessons Learned on Culturally Sensitive Therapy”

December 7, 2007

The Diversity Committee was pleased to present Ms. Luna, who shared her perspectives on working with culturally diverse children in Boston-area public schools.  Ms. Luna emphasized the importance of considering the contextual factors that may affect a client’s sense of identity, including, but not limited to, socio-economic and cultural-political factors, family values, and social networks. She further described how some of these factors may come into play during therapy with a client of a different ethnicity than the service provider. Ms. Luna earned a masters degree in school psychology in 2003 and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in 2005 both from Tufts University. Ms Luna is currently working her way towards her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

Ms. Luna has been involved with the Lynn, Mass and Lawrence, Mass public schools as a school psychologist intern and as a full time licensed school psychologist.  She is a Member of Massachusetts School Psychologists Association, and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). She is also the recipient of the Outstanding Educator Award from the New England Association of Educator Employment in 2004.

Catherine Vuky, Ph.D.
Title: "Cultural Considerations in Working with Asian American Families"

February 27, 2008

Dr. Catherine Vuky is the director of training at South Cove Community Health Center and will come speak on working with Asian American families. She will provide an overview of the family dynamics of Asian American Families as they influence treatment practices as well as applying treatment principles and understanding the socio-cultural and acculturation issues that are relevant to address in treatment. She will be providing many case examples as well.

Social Outing to Ethiopian Restaurant Asmara in Cambridge, MA

March 11, 2008