Hermoine Hamlin, M.A., NCC

Chair, 4^th Annual National Black Counseling Psychologists

Hermoine Hamlin is a third year doctoral student in the Howard University Counseling Psychology Program.  Hermoine earned a B.S. in Psychology at Howard University and a M.A. in Community Counseling from The George Washington University (GWU).  Upon graduating from GWU, she received the faculty nominated Clemmont E. Vontress Cross Cultural Counseling Award, for her diligent efforts in the promotion of social justice and cross-cultural awareness. During her tenure at GWU she also became a National Certified Counselor and is in the process of obtaining her LPC.  She has served as President for the Counseling Psychology Student Association for the past two years.  Her research interests include perceptions of early childhood sexual experiences, spirituality as a coping mechanism in adolescents of color, and motivational interviewing as a tool in reducing secondary pregnancies in teen mothers.  Hermoine currently works part time at Children’s National Medical Center conducting research on secondary pregnancies in urban adolescents, in addition to providing play, individual and family therapies at Ascensions Community Services, Inc., in Southeast Washington.  She has had her work published in the Journal of Negro Education and the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology.   She is a member of the American Psychological Association’s Division 17 as well as the Association of Black Psychologists. 

Angela Bethea, Ph.D.

Dr. Angela Bethea is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Health and Addictions Psychology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital (New York, NY).  Currently, she receives a NIH/NIDA Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research to support her work as a Project Manager on a NIH/NIDA treatment development study entitled the “Transplant and Addiction Project” (PROJECT TAP) (PI: Deborah L. Haller, Ph.D.).  This pilot study tests a novel telephone counseling intervention to help substance abusers with end stage liver or renal disease maintain abstinence in order to increase their chances for being listed for a liver or kidney transplant.  In addition to Dr. Bethea’s current research interests in drug abuse among people with chronic medical illness, she has a research background in racial identity, African-centered cultural identity, and race-related stress among Black American college students.  She plans to integrate her research interests in chronic medical illness and culture into a program using mixed methods research to investigate African American women smokers and their perceived barriers to quitting/seeking smoking cessation treatment.  In January 2006, she received Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Lehigh University.  In August 2006, she was elected as the Secretary for Division 50 (Addictions) of the American Psychological Association.

Nathilee Caldeira, Ph.D.

Dr. Caldeira is an associate research scientist at the Social Intervention Group/Columbia University School of Social Work. Her research and clinical work have focused on trauma and substance abuse in women and has recently expanded to include HIV/AIDS. She is also a licensed psychologist with a private practice in New York City.

Faye Coleman, Ph.D.

Since founding Westover Consultants, Inc. (WCI) in her basement in 1984, Faye E. Coleman, PhD, President and CEO, has guided her firm’s steady emergence into the widely respected, award winning, multi-million dollar enterprise it is today. A multidisciplinary consulting firm located in Silver Spring, MD, WCI currently has nearly 50 employees, projects in national and international arenas, a diverse client base made up of numerous federal agencies and fortune 500 companies, and over $16 million in sales.

Dr. Coleman is an internationally recognized trainer and planner with more than 30 years of experience in managing large-scale training, research, and evaluation projects. She has worked throughout the United States, Africa, the Caribbean and Europe with Federal, State and community-based organizations and with managers of small to mid-size corporations, associations, nonprofit groups, government agencies, and fortune 500 companies, designing client-specific culturally relevant materials and training programs that meet the complex and diverse needs of a rapidly changing global market place.

Listed in Who’s Who of American Women for her contributions in the fields of education and human development, Dr. Coleman holds a B.S. degree in Sociology from Simmons College, a M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts and a Ph.D. in Education/Human Development from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Latoya C. Connor

Dr. Latoya C. Conner is a licensed psychologist and Assistant Research Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and of Pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children's National Medical Center, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington D.C.  She is also a researcher at the DC-Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities. .  Dr. Conner completed her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Columbia University, Teachers College, and a clinical and community psychology internship at Yale University School of Medicine, The Consultation Center.  Currently, Dr. Conner is enrolled in the Global Mental Health: Trauma and Recovery Certification Program sponsored by Harvard’s Program on Refugee Trauma and the Ministry of Health in Italy.

Dr. Conner conducts community research in the areas of urban health disparities, HIV/AIDS, drug abuse among adolescents, protective factors of cultural worldview, youth activism/ social justice, and empowerment focused-psychotherapy among racially and ethnically diverse youth.  Her research interests also include determinants of sexual health among women in rural and urban regions in Uganda, as well as indigenous forms of coping and pathways to resilience.  In 2006, Dr. Conner was a visiting scholar with the Peace Corp in Suriname, South America, where she conducted informal interviews with indigenous African communities, also known as Maroons, and compiled a document, titled, ‘Vocational Knowledge, Awareness and Skill Development: Recommendations for the Maroon Population in the Interior of Suriname.’

Sheri-Ann Cowie

Sheri-Ann Cowie is a fourth year doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology program at New York University’s Department of Applied Psychology.  She is the recipient of the American Psychological Association- Minority Fellowship Program HIV/AIDS Research Award and a mentee of Dr. Jacqueline S. Mattis.  Her research explores the interplay among culture (particularly religion), immigration, and ethnicity and positive psychological as well as HIV/AIDS-related outcomes among West Indians/Caribbean Anglophones.  She is one of the co-authors of a chapter entitled “Ethnicity, culture, and spiritual development” in “The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence.”

Bryana French, M.A.

Bryana French, M.A., is a Counseling Psychology doctoral student in her fourth year at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  She is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, magna cum laude, at Hamline University.  She is passionate about social justice and challenging oppressive systems and practices at institutional, interpersonal, and individual levels.  She continues to be active and heavily involved in changing these systems in the campus and surrounding community through teaching, counseling, and student/community activism work.  Her research interests include sexual coercion among racial and ethnic minority young adults and adolescents. In addition, she has worked on various projects including cancer beliefs among Latina women, multiracial coalition building, and effective treatments for sexual assault survivors.  Bryana is a 2004-2007 fellow of the APA Minority Fellowship Program's Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, she currently serves as the graduate assistant for African American Outreach through the university Counseling Center, and co-facilitates intergroup dialogues on issues of diversity. She is currently engaged in strength-based community mental health work with African American youth and families and in the future, intends to continue working toward social change and dismantling systems of oppression and privilege. 

Nyasha Grayman, Ph.D

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Dr. Grayman joined the University of Delaware faculty in the fall of 2005.  She conducts research that is concerned with the intersectionality of culture and positive psychology.  Her most recent work explored the interrelationships between value for prosociality, prosocial engagement, and well-being among African American adults.  Dr. Grayman has worked with diverse individuals and families in all stages of development, in various capacities, and within a variety of settings.  She is a trained therapist who has practiced in inner city community and veteran affairs hospitals, and college counseling centers.  Believing that the work of human services professionals must be informed by the subjective realities of the service populations, students in her classes are challenged to use multicultural perspectives/standpoints as lenses through which they make meaning of traditional understandings of developmental and psychological processes.

Charlayne Hayling

Charlayne Hayling is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  She is a magna cum laude graduate of Florida A&M University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Juvenile Justice.  At FAMU, Charlayne was extremely active in numerous community service projects such as the development of the Neighborhood Justice Center, the Community Service Initiative within the State Housing Authority, and innumerable mentoring projects with young African American mothers and children.  Ms. Hayling also began to sharpen her research skills while at Florida A&M as a Ronald E. McNair Research Scholar.  She has a vested interest in the well being of at-risk African American youth.  Charlayne’s research interests include:  juvenile delinquency and crime, urban youth development, behavioral modification, trauma exposure, and social justice and activism.  To that end, during her undergraduate matriculation Charlayne worked with African American youth in detention facilities, school settings, and community mental health agencies.

Currently, Charlayne is completing her third year of graduate training at Lehigh University.  As a counseling psychology doctoral student Charlayne has worked on a plethora of research studies pertaining to minority youth.  She is currently serving as the Data Coordinator for Project REACH, a longitudinal study that assesses successful interventions for children with severe emotional and behavioral needs, in the Lehigh University Center for Promoting Research to Practice; she is also a research consultant on a project that examines effective literacy skill implementation for children in inner-city Philadelphia elementary schools.  Her social justice work includes her involvement in the Lehigh Students of Color Coalition, her development of the Race Matters group through Kutztown University Counseling Services in response to collegiate racism, and her ongoing involvement in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Charlayne’s ultimate goals are to become a licensed psychologist, serve as an administrator of psychological services for federal juvenile detention, and to work extensively in Black community. She hopes to bridge the schism between clinicians and policymakers in order to work collaboratively towards more rehabilitative practices, and to develop both prevention and intervention strategies at the community level.  She anticipates completing a dissertation that is connected to the juvenile delinquent population and contributes to psychological treatment and prevention research.  It is her sincere hope that she will in fact leave this world better than she found it by contributing to the alleviation of the many stressors affecting the African American community through sound psychological research and practice.

Adanna Johnson, Ph.D.

Adanna J. Johnson, Ph.D. earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas in May 1999, graduating magna cum laude.  In May 2001, she was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Counseling at Marquette University.  She completed her Doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology in December 2005.

During her tenure at Marquette University, Dr. Johnson was actively involved in multicultural research and recruitment and retention activities for students of color in higher education.  She has co-authored papers and has presented her research at national conferences and developed an endowed scholarship for students of color at Marquette.  She is currently in private practice in Houston, Texas.  Her clinical work has focused on helping children and adolescents and their families better understand themselves and each other.  She has a holistic approach to psychology in which she teaches her clients to find balance between spirit, mind, and body in order to address concerns in their everyday lives.

Eartha Lee Johnson, Ph.D.

Amadou Kouyate

Born in the Washington, DC, Amadou Kouyate is the 150th generation of the Kouyate lineage and has studied and performed Manding music since the age of three years old. Amadou is a dynamic djembe and koutiro drummer. He also plays the 21-string kora, which he learned first with his father, Djimo Kouyate and other master griots of West Africa. He has performed with Mamaya African Jazz and the African American Dance Ensemble. Currently, Amadou performs as a solo artist and as a member of Farafina Kan, the Wato Sita Project/World Music Ensemble, the Manding Griot Ensemble, the Kouyate Family, Urban Afrikan, Memory of African Culture Performing Company, Dono Percussion Ensemble and the Hueman Prophets. His credits include performances at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, The Smithsonian Institution, Lowell, East-Lansing and Dayton National Folk Festivals, DanceAfrica DC and Chicago as well as with The National Symphony Orchestra, Images of Cultural Artistry Performing Company, the production "Soul Possessed," directed by Debbie Allen and in Sweet Honey in The Rock’s premiere performance of “INDABA” with the WPAS Men and Women of the Gospel. His musical talents have earned him many accolades that include artists-in-residence awards from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities grant award, a Special Talents Scholarship at Howard University, and a Musical Theatre scholarship at the Levine School of the Arts. Amadou has studied in Mali and Senegal, West Africa with master musicians of the Diali tradition including Toumani Diabate. Currently, Amadou Kouyate is an Adjunct Lecturer of African Music and Ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland School of Music, and Montgomery College and attends Howard University.

Nicole Monteiro, Ph.D.

Nicole Monteiro earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Howard University in 2003 and has a diverse range of clinical and research experiences, including in international settings.  Among Dr. Monteiro's professional interests is cross-cultural psychology, psychological treatment of trauma, African American Muslims' mental health and psychotherapy with ethnic minority populations.  She has spent 9 months in Ethiopia conducting her dissertation research.  Dr. Monteiro has worked in various clinical settings including inpatient psychiatric hospitals, a juvenile detention center, university counseling center and in Grenada, West Indies where she conducted psychotherapy and consultation in the community.  She is a former American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program fellow and recipient of the David L. Boren Fellowship for international research, Howard University Hawthorne Dissertation Award and National Science Foundation Travel Grant.  Currently, Dr. Monteiro is enrolled in the Harvard Program for Refugee Trauma's Global Mental Health: Trauma and Recovery Certificate Program where she is getting in-depth training in the unique needs and strengths of culturally diverse traumatized populations, refugee mental health and post-conflict recovery.  Dr. Monteiro works at Children's National Medical Center and as an adjunct professor at Trinity University.  In addition, she maintains a small private practice in Washington, DC.

Melissa Morris

Melissa Morris is a senior at the University of Delaware majoring in Human Services. A native of Delaware, she has recently traveled to Barbados, which is her first travel outside of the continental United States.

Kevin Naiker, Ph.D.

Dr. Naiker has been Director of the Counseling and Career Development Center since September, 2005. Prior to that, he served as Education Counselor and Program Coordinator with the Talent Search Program in the Office of TRIO and College Preparatory Programs.  Dr. Naiker is also an Adjunct professor in the Psychology and Counseling Department at the University of the District of Columbia.  His education includes a BA and BA (Honors) Psychology from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, MA in Counseling Psychology from Bowie State University, a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Howard University, and an Advance Graduate Certificate from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Dr. Naiker has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including the Fulbright Fellowship and Thomas Jefferson Fellowship.  As an avid grant writer, he has written several successful grant proposals.

Dr. Naiker has presented numerous papers and workshops nationally and internationally, on areas related to stress, anger and rage, multicultural counseling, and conflict resolution.

Dr. Naiker has published several articles in professional journals and has co-authored a book on Community Psychology and Action Research.  Dr. Naiker holds memberships with numerous professional organizations including American Psychological Association (APA), American Counseling Association and is a member of the Board of Directors.  He is also a member of various non-profit organizations.

Helen Neville, Ph.D.

Helen Neville is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and the African American Studies and Research Program at the UIUC. Dr. Neville obtained her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  She came to the University of Illinois from the University of Missouri, where she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, and the Black Studies Program, and the Co-Director for the Center for Multicultural Research, Training, and Consultation.  Her research interests center on two interrelated areas: general and cultural factors influencing the stress and coping processes of African Americans, particularly rape survivors, and the development and consequences of racial ideologies among racially diverse populations.  Her work has appeared in a wide range of journals including, The Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Black Studies, Applied and Preventive Psychology, and Psychology of Women Quarterly. Currently, she is the associate editor of The Counseling Psychologist. She is the Associate Editor of The Counseling Psychologist and serves on the board of a number of scholarly journals.

 Arlette Ngoubene

Arlette Joëlle Ngoubene Atioky is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology at Lehigh University.  Atioky, is her second last name, and is also the last name of her maternal grand-mother. It means in Nboh, a Cameroonian dialect, standing on the ground.  She was born in the capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé. She spent the first nine years there. In 1991, her entire family relocated in Brussels, Belgium and she spent the next eight years there. In 1999, her family headed to the United States, following her father who was again relocated for professional reasons.   Dealing with the difficulties of acculturation, the establishment of new relationships, and most importantly the maintenance and/or the loss of one’s own cultural identity was a struggle for Arlette.  Currently, she is working on her qualifier which looks at the cross-cultural/trans-national differences in skin color preference.

Maduawachi Ogbonna, Ph.D.

Arrived in the USA, December 1989 as a graduate student at Duquesene University, Pittsburgh PA, Dr. Ogbonna currently serves as a Roman Catholic priest in different parishes in PA, NJ, and NY.  Currently he resides at Church of Saint Peter Monticello New York in the Archdiocese of New York and is assigned Catholic Chaplain, Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg New York.  While many people can be Roman Catholic Priests, only very few priests are endowed with the strength of spirit, mind and body to deal with the suffering humanity hidden away in our state and federal prisons.  A greater part of the prison population is Black men and being a Counseling Psychologists is a very important tool in his stressful job as a prison chaplain.  He also engages in research on the psychological implications of various aspects of Igbo cultural heritage.

Chu Chu Onwuachi-Saunders, Ph.D.

Camile Pereira, B.A.

Dr. Alex L. Pieterse

Dr. Pieterse is an assistant professor in the graduate school of education at George Mason University.  His primary affiliation is with the Counseling and Development program.  Dr. Pieterse holds a Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) received from the Australian Catholic University, a Master of Arts in Counseling from New York University and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology received from Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Pieterse’s area of research includes racism, race-related stressors, and psychological responses to stressful life events. Dr. Pieterse has published and presented in the areas of racial identity, social justice, anti-racism training and racial-cultural awareness. He teaches courses in Advanced Counseling Skills, Family Therapy, Diagnosis and Treatment Planning and Anti-Racism Advocacy.

Dr. William Parham

Dr. William Parham received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He is the Associate Director of Clinical and COPE Services at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has served as a consultant to the National Football League, the United States Olympic Committee and the Children's Hospital of Orange County. He has published over 20 articles or book chapters. His counseling and research expertise is in Sports Psychology, Health Psychology and Multicultural Counseling. He coordinated the National Multicultural Conference and Summit in 2003. He serves on the Editorial Board for The Counseling Psychologist. Dr. Parham is a Fellow of Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology), Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues) Division 47 (Exercise and Sports Psychology), and the Academy of Counseling Psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP).

Kathy Sanders-Phillips, Ph.D.

Kathy Sanders-Phillips is currently a Professor of Pediatrics at Howard University School of medicine and Director of the Research Program in the Epidemiology and Prevention of Drug Abuse.  Prior to coming to Howard, Dr. Sanders-Phillips was a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at UCLA and at the King/Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, and in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Sanders-Phillips holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Johns Hopkins University.  She has served as a member of the National Council for the National Institute on Drug Abuse and as a member of the quality assurance committee to evaluate the NIH research portfolio.  She is a former member of the Advisory Board for the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program at the University of California and Chair of the AIDS Taskforce for the University of California.

Dr. Sanders-Phillips’ research has primarily focused on the impact of exposure to community violence on health behaviors, outcomes, and substance use in communities of color, particularly among children and adolescents. She developed the first research institute in violence research at the King/Drew Medical Center and has published empirical and theoretical articles on the influence of exposure to violence on psychological distress and health behaviors and decisions in communities of color.

Diana J. Wall, Psy.D.

Dr. Wall is currently the Acting Practicum and Externship Training Director at Howard University Counseling Service.  She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Howard University, and a Doctorate of Psychology in Clinical Psychology from The George Washington University School of Professional Psychology.  Dr. Wall’s clinical experiences include individual psychotherapy, psychological assessment, forensic assessment, process and clinical education groups.  Dr. Wall has worked with diverse populations in community, in-patient, college and forensic settings.  Her clinical interests include diversity issues (race, ethnicity, cultural, gender, sexual orientation); trauma, psychodynamic psychotherapy (group and individual), and training.

In addition to her clinical experiences Dr. Wall is also a member of the Balafon West African Dance Company directed by Kadiatou Conte-Forte.  In November 2006, Dr. Wall traveled to Conakry, Guinea to study West African Dance with Sekouba Camara, Director of Ballet National Djoliba and Les Ballets Africans.  In the future, Dr. Wall hopes to incorporate African Dance as a treatment modality when working with survivors of trauma.

Kevin Washington, Ph.D.

Kevin Washington is a dynamic speaker, author, percussionist and professor who has served as a special behavioral consultant for Essence Magazine, Black Entertainment Television (BET), MayaTech Corporation, Mississippi and Maryland Fatherhood Initiative as well as the International Black Buyers and Manufacturers Conference (IBBMEC). He is a powerful orator who is devoted to assisting people to step into their divine right to be and to become more powerful. Kevin Washington, Ph.D. is a Counseling Psychologist and Percussionist.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Grambling State University (GSU) in Grambling, Louisiana.  Kevin attained the doctoral degree from Texas A&M University in Counseling Psychology.  He has served as a Clinical Coordinator for the Institute for Behavioral Change and Research, Inc. (IBCR). Most recently, he has served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Human Development and Psychoeducational Studies at Howard University and Morgan State University located in Baltimore, MD. He has been an adjunct Professor in the Psychology and Counseling Program at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) in Washington, DC. He served as a University Counselor at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), Princess Anne, Maryland; as an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Psychology Program at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), Prairie View, Texas; and as a psychology instructor at his alma mater, Grambling State University, (GSU). Currently, he is a visiting professor of with a dual appointment in Psychology and Mental Health Counseling at Rollins College located in Winter Park, Florida.

            As a Fulbright-Hays scholar Kevin researched the impact of socializing institutions on the healing or restructuring of post-apartheid South Afrika. Additionally, he researched traditional healing systems in South Afrika and Ghana, West Afrika. He has recently served as a consulting psychologist for Helping Children Grow, Inc a Foster care agency and Progressive Life Center, Inc. located in Washington, DC.  Kevin is developing therapy (healing) paradigms for working with ethnically and culturally diverse populations with an emphasis on Afrikan American families, relationships, and men.  The major thrust of the paradigms is to ensure that methods of healing are consistent with the essence and desires of diverse populations.  His Afrikan Centered therapeutic model has been implemented in the Prosocial Family Therapy Project that provided in-home family therapy. Currently, his therapeutic model is being utilized in the Fatherhood Enhancement Program in Washington, DC. His study of men’s issues was instrumental in the development of the 2000 and 2001 Fatherhood and the Family Conference held at UMES located in Princess Anne, Maryland.

            Along with his wife, Deleso Alford Washington, he provides workshops on the Black Male Female Relationships as well as motivational and empowerment seminars for manifesting greatness.