This fall, the TSS Group continues our tradition of welcoming new graduate student team members! We invite you to get to know Amber Fredrick and Leah Waltrip through the following brief Q&A.
Q: Welcome to the TSS Group, Amber! Tell us about yourself, please!
Hi all, I’m Amber Fredrick, and I use she/her pronouns. I’m from Washington and adore the PNW. I graduated with my BS in Psychology with a minor in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Washington in Seattle, and my MEd in Prevention Science from the University of Oregon in Eugene. I’ve spent two years working at nonprofits that facilitate stable housing, and about two years as the Legal Services and Systems Navigation Coordinator at Sexual Assault Support Services. I split most of my free time wandering bookstores, plant stores, or walking my beloved dog, Randal.
Q: As a first-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Program, what are your current research interests?
My current research interests can go on forever, but broadly, I’m interested in complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), coping behaviors, gender-based violence prevention using dissemination/implementation science, risk and protective factors for experiencing violence, and how to make systems (like the civil and criminal justice systems) more accessible to trauma survivors pursuing legal justice.
Q: What drew you to the TSS Group?
I was drawn to this team because of the emphasis on intersectional, community-based research. I believe that having community-centered principles in research is essential to preventing violence in real populations, and this lab is profoundly intentional when it comes to working with and serving survivors.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish as a member of the TSS Group?
I hope to contribute to the growing research on CPTSD and trauma, facilitate community collaborations that focus on preventing violence, and continue to learn and grow as a multidisciplinary researcher and scholar. I’m excited to collaborate and be inspired by my lab mates and Dr. DePrince.
Q: Welcome to the TSS Group, Leah. Tell us about yourself, please!
Hi there! My name is Leah Waltrip (she/her/hers). I have been exploring the east coast for the past seven years and I am excited to be returning home to Denver to work with the TSS group and grow as a researcher and clinician. I attended Villanova University for my undergraduate degree where I double majored in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience and Peace and Justice Studies. I then moved to NYC where I worked using applied techniques of cellular and molecular neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine and neuropsychological testing at Columbia University Medical Center. While in NYC, I volunteered with an organization called Sexual Assault Violence Intervention (SAVI) which reinvigorated my passion for helping survivors of sexual assault (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV), particularly in acute phases of trauma. I am an avid horseback rider, a classic Colorado cult “outdoorsy” human, and a true “dog person” at heart.
Q: As a first-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Program, what are your current research interests?
I am broadly interested in understanding the impacts of SA and IPV on adolescents and adults. My current research interests include cognitive outcomes of SA in teenagers, as well as the influences of sexual assault education on trends of teen dating violence and SA. Additionally, I am interested in novel treatments for PTSD which harness plasticity and critical periods of development. One treatment I hope to study in the future, with considerable scrutiny on the ethics of implementation, is psychedelic assisted psychotherapy for SA and IPV survivors.
Q: What drew you to the TSS Group?
As a true neuroscience nerd, I like to think granularly about brain circuitry and mechanisms of trauma heritability. While I find these topics stimulating and fundamental to knowledge of the brain, they carry little weight when not situated in the broader context of society. Community-engaged research is an innovative approach to applying scientific findings to the world that I find is vitally important for trauma research. As I hope to work with trauma survivors in my career, the TSS group focus on trauma-informed and community engaged research captured my interest and drew me here.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish as a member of the TSS Group?
As a scientist, embracing intersectionality and survivor-centered research can be complex. As a member of the TSS group, I am excited to learn from my peers and mentors how to apply values of intersectionality, feminism, cultural responsiveness, and community engagement to the day-to-day process of research. I hope to become a strong advocate for best scientific and clinical practices for diverse survivors of SA and IPV, whose experiences of trauma vary as greatly as the individuals themselves.
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Trauma Research Notes 