Congratulations to Jennifer Truitt on being selected as the Student Spotlight Award winner for May 2025!
Learn more about Jennifer: "I am a graduate research assistant in the PROSOCIAL Lab at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), which conducts research on psychotherapy, relationships, intimacy, and loneliness through a behaviorist lens. In my first year of attending ACBS Worldcon, I gave two symposium talks on the application of contextual behavioral science in psychotherapy research and practice. I have also given a guest lecture in an undergraduate course at UMKC to introduce behaviorism to psychology students. I mentor undergraduates and masters students in understanding the science of interpersonal relationships through a radical behaviorist lens.
For my first peer-reviewed publication, I contributed to a chapter on the history of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy that is currently in press. I received a $25,000 grant from The Jed Foundation and Victoria’s Secret PINK to conduct my master’s thesis, which is currently in progress, and to advance the understanding of BATD-R and FEBA. My masters thesis is a treatment study that examines the role of social environment in behavioral activation among a sample of LGBTQ+ young adults who experience loneliness and depressive symptoms. I am comparing a waitlist control condition to Brief Behavioral Activation for the Treatment of Depression (BATD-R) and FAP-Enhanced Behavioral Activation (FEBA). As part of my project, I will provide training to other student therapists and share behavioral activation techniques with local LGBTQ+ organizations."