Student Spotlight Award Recipient - Kevin Davies

Congratulations to Kevin Davies on being selected as the Student Spotlight Award winner for April 2018!

The purpose of this award is to highlight students who are doing important work in the CBS community whether for research, clinical, and/or volunteer-humanitarian efforts.

This is a way to highlight their achievements, let the ACBS community know important work students are doing, and possibly provide a platform for mentoring/collaboration/professional development/conversations around highlighted areas.

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Learn more about Kevin:

Background of CBS Research/Clinical/Volunteering efforts/achievements:
I am currently in my second year of the master's program of counseling psychology at UW-Madison, and I was first alerted to ACT as a possible theoretical orientation for my clinical work this past summer. Since then, I have been eating up the literature on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and have been using ACT with my clients. Since there are very few colleagues in my program that use ACT, I have essentially trained myself in the approach, using books, podcasts, ACBS resources, and discussions with peers. I have also begun to teach my cohort about ACT and have given presentations on ACT-based interventions and case conceptualizations. I have found Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to be extremely useful in my approach with clients, and in my own personal growth.

Autobiography:
I am a second-year master's student in the Department of Counseling Psychology at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. Currently, I am working directly with individual clients and couples, and I have been working with Dr. Carmen Valdez on research surrounding family-based interventions for Latinx families. My main interests are improving access to mental health services at the community level, along with improving quality of care for typically undeserved populations. Those interests have led me on an exciting career, which has included serving adults with developmental disabilities, providing suicide-prevention crisis aid, and volunteering as a family counselor.

I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, but have lived in Wisconsin for about 4.5 years now. When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, playing guitar, playing board games, and watching clouds. Moving forward, I have just finished my applications to doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology, and I’m interested in working with elderly individuals.

Future goals:
I'm looking forward to further developing my skills and knowledge surrounding CBS, and I aim to engage with the ACBS community!