2024 PAA Poster Presentation
Welcome to the PAA-hosted poster presentation event. This year we received 7 poster submissions for our event.
PAA members will receive a link to vote for the 2024 PAA Best Poster via email on 10 September 2024.
1. The Potential of Outdoor Education for Autistic Girls: A Narrative Literature Review
Elena Groen-Sylvester is a Registered Psychologist living and working in Calgary. She specializes in counselling neurodivergent children and adults in school and private practice settings. Elena completed research in education courses at the University of Calgary in the past year with a focus on autistic girls in outdoor education. Elena is neuro and L2SGBTQ+ affirming.
2. An Exploration of Resilience and Personal Narrative in Counselling Those Who Live with Chronic Pain
Chronic pain found me. A traumatic hiking accident in 2022 not only almost took my life and left me with a paralyzed hand, but derailed my graduate studies and changed the trajectory of my life. I am a caregiver, a Master of Counselling Student at City University, a chronic pain and resiliency researcher, an aspiring narrative and forest therapist, and I hope to become an R. Psych. I am in my final year of studies, embarking on my intern placements in fall 2024. This research was conducted on colonized Turtle Island lands on the Treaty Seven region of Southern Alberta. – JoAnn Reynolds
3. A Review of Strength-Based Social-Emotional Screening and Assessment Tools for High-School Aged Youth
Kiana Chubey is a second-year master’s student in the School and Clinical Child Psychology program at the University of Alberta. She is interested in researching strategies to better meet the needs of marginalized youth. Her thesis focuses on the impacts of school-based supports for youth with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
4. Newcomer Youth in the Classroom: A Digital Literacy Resource
Linnea F. Kalchos is a PhD candidate in the School and Applied Child Psychology program at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include school integration, newcomer youth, transnational feminism, and critical social justice research in psychology. Her Master’s thesis focused on newcomer experiences of psychosocial support services in Canadian secondary schools. She also works as a student clinician conducting psychoeducational assessments for children and adolescents with specific learning disorders, intellectual disabilities, and other social-emotional concerns in public and private settings. She currently serves as co-chair for the Inaugural Conference on Critical Social Justice (ICCSJ) in Psychology.
5. Loneliness as a Predictor of Mood Reactivity and Pessimism
My name is Mei Asakawa, and received my master’s degree at Adelphi University in New York. I am currently working as a crisis intervention counselor in Japan and will start my Ph.D. journey from April, 2025. My research interests are highly related to the presented topic: loneliness. Loneliness is the way individuals perceive burdeneness and connectedness, and it impacts on various aspects of mental health, including depression and suicidal ideations.
6. Literature Review of Medical Assistance in Dying (Maid) and Mental Illness
Sabrina Minor holds a BSc from Mount Royal University in Calgary and is currently completing a Master’s of Counselling Psychology from City University of Seattle, Calgary campus. Her interest in MAiD research was sparked by the novel This Is Assisted Dying by Dr. Stefanie Green, which explores the complexities of end-of-life care. Sabrina’s academic journey and passion for mental health have driven her to investigate the ethical, legal, and psychological dimensions of MAiD, particularly for individuals with mental illnesses.
7. Enhancing Counselling Psychology Students’ Cultural and Social Justice Responsiveness Through Practicum Supervision
Veronica Shim is entering her third year of her PhD program at the University of British Columbia and is supervised by Dr. Anusha Kassan. She was a school psychologist for over ten years and provided supervision for Masters level students and interns prior to returning to school to pursue her doctoral degree. Ms. Shim’s practice and research is informed by her own bi-cultural identity as a second-generation Chinese-Canadain with an overarching social justice lens.