Dominique Ghirardi

Dominique Ghirardi, BA, is a graduate student in their second year at the Florida Institute of Technology’s Clinical Psychology Psy.D. program in Melbourne, Florida. After graduating from New College of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology, Dominique realized that they wanted to pursue a career in clinical psychology after working in collaboration with school psychologists and other specialists within the six schools at which they taught in Kyoto, Japan to assist recently immigrated students experiencing culture shock with adjusting to life in Japan and assisting students with social anxiety, developmental disabilities, and physical disabilities with developing social skills and successful academic habits. Employed as an English teacher at the time, Dominique found themselves working with these students because of their own experience in navigating adjustment to life abroad and to life as someone with a physical disability. Now Dominique aims to use their experience living and working within multicultural settings, working with individuals with disabilities, and working with individuals within the LGBTQ+ community to help make mental healthcare more accessible to individuals who have not traditionally been represented by using their experience to establish rapport with clients. Dominique’s current interests are health psychology and assessment, with more specific clinical interests in working with military populations and veterans as well as adults with chronic conditions and life-altering injuries. Dominique is actively involved in research regarding COVID-19 vaccination attitudes among parents and children, technology addiction in children, and the effects of resilience on post-traumatic growth in adults with acquired disabilities.