{"id":14,"date":"2025-05-12T19:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T19:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2026-03-18T21:24:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:24:01","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are a team of doctoral students, faculty, and practitioners working together at the intersection of psychology, media, and technology. Grounded in positive psychology, humanistic values, and strength-based practice, we are committed to redefining mental health and well-being through ethical, strength-based, and human-centered innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PsyTech Lab is housed within the APA-accredited Clinical Psychology PsyD Program at Antioch University Seattle and serves as both a research space and a clinical innovation hub. Our work reflects a shared commitment to building a future of mental healthcare that is strength-based, ethical, inclusive, and tech-informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lab Director<\/strong>, PI<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Christopher L. Heffner, PsyD, PhD<\/strong>
Founder and Director, PsyTech Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dr. Christopher L. Heffner<\/strong> is a licensed clinical psychologist, professor, author, and national leader in the integration of health-service psychology, media, and technology. He holds a PsyD in Clinical Psychology and a PhD in Organization and Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the founder of AllPsych.com<\/a>, launched in 1992, which remains the longest-running psychology education website. Through AllPsych, he has spent decades making psychological science more accessible to students, professionals, and the public around the world through open source psychology textbooks<\/a> , blogs<\/a>, and continuing education<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a professor in the APA Accredited Clinical Psychology Program<\/a> at Antioch University Seattle, Dr. Heffner teaches intervention-focused courses that prepare students for real-world clinical practice, including Client-Centered Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Clinical Supervision, and Professional Consultation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the co-author of The Strength-Based Clinical Supervision Workbook: A Guide for Supervisors and Their Trainees<\/a><\/em>, a practical and research-informed resource designed to help supervisors and their students apply collaborative, positive, and growth-oriented strategies across clinical settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nationally, Dr. Heffner began his three year term on the Board of the American Psychological Association\u2019s Division 46, The Society for Media Psychology and Technology<\/em><\/a>. He is serving as President-Elect this year, will assume the role of Division President in 2027, and Past-President in 2028. He is Division Co-Chair of the 2026 APA Convention Committee, having also served as Co-Chair in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Doctoral Fellow<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The PsyTech Lab Doctoral Fellow position is highly competitive and awarded annually to an advanced doctoral student in clinical psychology. Students selected for this role demonstrate excellence in scholarship, collaboration, and ethical leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fellow serves a one year term and facilitates lab meetings, coordinates project timelines, supports peer mentorship, and co-leads public-facing initiatives such as discussion groups, presentations, publications, and other lab events. The role is designed to support professional development, clinical identity, and academic leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Scarlett Bird-Guerra<\/strong>
2025-26 Doctoral Fellow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Scarlett is a second-year doctoral student in the Clinical PsyD Program at Antioch University Seattle. She oversees two projects this year: Humor and Relationships as a Moderator of Well-Being and The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Creating Victim Statements. As a fellow, her responsibilities include: managing the PsyTech lab, aiding in the progression of the two aforementioned studies, and helping out with the program\u2019s development alongside her other fellows. Her interests include forensics, particularly within the realm of prison systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our Student Researchers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Lab members are doctoral students in clinical psychology who bring diverse clinical experiences and perspectives to the lab. They are completing practicum and internship placements in a wide range of settings, including community mental health, forensic settings, substance use treatment programs, hospitals, outpatient clinics, schools, integrated primary care, and telehealth platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Katie Palmer<\/strong>
Research Assistant
Past Doctoral Fellow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Project: Humor and Relationships as a Moderator of Well-Being<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role: Research Lead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Info: Katie Palmer is a clinical psychology doctoral student at Antioch University Seattle. As Dr. Heffner’s 2023-2024 Fellow, she collaborated with members of the PsyTech\/Positive Psychology Lab to develop conference posters and a journal manuscript on well-being, humor, and relationships among transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Katie is primarily interested in strengths, hope, and resilience, and in applying positive psychology interventions in her clinical work to help clients thrive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Nghi Tran<\/strong>
Research Assistant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Project: Humor and Relationships as a Moderator of Well-Being<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role: Research Assistant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Nghi Tran, and I am a doctoral student at Antioch University Seattle studying clinical psychology. I am interested in working in community mental health, with severe mental illness, and learning the utilization of positive psychology within these populations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Elizabeth<\/strong> Chacon
Research Assistant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I am interested in how strengths and positive well-being can be beneficial to healing generational trauma in family relationships. I am also interested in how AI can impact real therapeutic relationships with the rise of \u201cAI therapists\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project: Humor and Relationships as a Moderator of Well-Being<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our Alumni <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our alumni have gone on to become licensed clinical psychologists, educators, consultants, and researchers, and many continue to integrate themes of positive psychology, technology, and innovation into their professional work. Many of our earliest members were part of the original Positive Psychology Lab and helped lay the foundation for our lab\u2019s current focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re proud to recognize their diverse career paths, from private practice to public health, faculty roles, nonprofit leadership, and mental health consulting. Where possible, we share links to their websites and professional projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • [Name]<\/strong> \u2013 Clinical Psychologist at [Practice Name] \u2013 [Link]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • [Name]<\/strong> \u2013 Faculty Member at [University Name] \u2013 [Link]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • [Name]<\/strong> \u2013 Digital Mental Health Consultant \u2013 [Link]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

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    <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We are a team of doctoral students, faculty, and practitioners working together at the intersection of psychology, media, and technology. Grounded in positive psychology, humanistic values, and strength-based practice, we are committed to redefining mental health and well-being through ethical, strength-based, and human-centered innovation. The PsyTech Lab is housed within the APA-accredited Clinical Psychology PsyD […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-14","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry","6":"has-post-thumbnail"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.antioch.edu\/psytechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}