Trauma, Substance, Justice, and Recovery Lab (TSJR)
What is the TSJR Lab?
The Trauma, Substance, Justice, and Recovery (TSJR) Lab focuses on the syndemic (overlapping epidemics) of trauma exposure, substance misuse, and justice involvement, and aims to generate research to delineate pathways and identify supports to mental health recovery, including recovery from substance use disorder.
This effort is led by Dr. Ryan Flinn, Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at UND and Principal Investigator of the SAMHSA-funded Mountain Plains Addiction Technology Transfer Center & the State Opioid Response-Technical Assistance for HHS Region 8 (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming).
Join the TSJR Lab Team
Dr. Flinn is seeking future doctoral students to join the TSJR Lab team.
Ideal candidates should:
- Plan to apply to the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program at the University of North Dakota to begin study in Fall 2024
- Have a strong interest in at least one of the following areas of research:
- addiction recovery
- emerging adults
- justice system involvement
- mental health recovery
- people living with HIV or at substantial risk of HIV transmission
- people of color/people of the global majority
- people with low income and economic marginalization
- recovery support services
- rural health
- sexual and gender minorities
- sexual behavior
- substance use
- trauma
- Demonstrate a commitment to learning research and dissemination skills during doctoral study, including presenting at regional and national conferences, publishing papers in peer-reviewed journals, supporting the preparation of grant applications, and supporting data collection efforts of the PI and of team members
- Have a willingness to routinely commit at least 5 hours per week (on average) during the academic year (August-May) to projects in the lab, which could include projects the student develops for their second-year scholarly project or final dissertation, projects developed by Dr. Flinn, or projects developed by other team members
Consistently engaged team members can expect to complete doctoral study with at least three peer-reviewed publications resulting from their efforts on this team. A higher number of publications is possible depending on time students make available for work in the lab, students’ willingness to seek supplemental funding (with support from Dr. Flinn), and other factors.
Prospective applicants are welcome to contact Dr. Flinn (ryan.flinn@UND.edu) with questions about the lab after reviewing the materials available at the following links:
Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Program at the University of North Dakota
Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Program Requirements
APPLY TO GRADUATE PROGRAMS AT UND
Current Activities
- Dr. Flinn is submitting an application for independent NIDA funding to support research on understanding the effectiveness of peer support specialists’ interventions for emerging adults who are living with a substance use disorder.
- Chandler is working toward submitting a systematic review on suicide risk factors among American Indian/Alaskan Native People.
- Molly is working toward submitting a scoping review of mental health stigma and the correlates of stigma among health professionals.
- Shaylah & Tiffany are working on publications to be submitted in fall 2023 related to transgender health, HIV prevention, and mental health help-seeking.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications
(*denotes student investigator)
*Hong, C., Flinn, R.E., Ochoa, A.M., John, S.A., Garth, G., & Holloway, I.W. (Accepted August 10, 2023). Internalized homophobia and social well-being among Black sexual minority men living with HIV: The mediating role of LGBT community connectedness and racial, gender, and sexual identity integration. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.
*Cascalheira, C.J., *Nelson, J., Flinn, R.E., *Zhao, Y., *Helminen, E.C., Scheer, J.R., Stone, A.L. (2023). High-risk polysubstance use among LGBTQ+ people who use drugs in the United States: An application of syndemic theory. International Journal of Drug Policy, 118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104103
*Cascalheira, C.J., Flinn, R.E., *Zhao, Y., *Klooster, D., *Laparade, D., Hamdi, S.M., Scheer, J.R., Lopez, A.G., Lund, E.M., Gomez, I.N., Saha, K., & De Choudhury, M. (2023). Models of gender dysphoria using social media for use in technology-delivered interventions: Machine learning and natural language processing validation study. JMIR Formative Research, 7, e47256. https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e47256
*Pryor, E.K., *Tyre, M., Brands, S., Flinn, R.E., Stepleman, L.M., & Holt, N.R. (2023). Barriers to mental health care identified by sexual and gender minority individuals in Georgia and South Carolina. Southern Medical Journal, 116(3), 264-269. https://sma.org/southern-medical-journal/article/barriers-to-mental-health-care-identified-by-sexual-and-gender-minority-individuals-in-georgia-and-south-carolina/
Jackman, K.P., Tilchin, C., Wagner, J., Flinn, R.E., Trent, M., Latkin, C., Ruhs, S., Fields, E., Hamill, M., Mahaffey, C.C., Greenbaum, A., Jennings, J. (2023). Desires for individual and interpersonal level patient portal use for HIV prevention among urban sexual minority men: A cross-sectional study. JMIR Formative Research, 7, e43550. https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e43550
Funding
Dr. Ryan E. Flinn is supported as a Scholar/Trainee by the following training programs, each of which are funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA):
- HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse, and Trauma Training Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (R25DA035692)
- Lifespan/Brown Criminal Justice Research Training Program on Substance Use, HIV, and Comorbidities (R25DA037190)
- JEAP Initiative (R24DA051950)
- Brandeis-Harvard SPIRE Center Substance Use Disorder Systems Performance Scholars Program (P30DA035772)
TSJR Lab Investigative Team
Ryan Flinn, PhD (they/them/theirs)
- Trauma, Substance Use, Justice System, Recovery Support Services, Sexual and Gender Minorities
- Childhood Trauma, Suicide Prevention, Integrated Behavioral Health, Chronic Pain, Health Promotion
- LGBTQ/Queer Mental Health, Rural Mental Health, LGBTQ/Queer Youth, Gender-Affirming Therapy, Multicultural Informed Practice, Social Justice, Social Advocacy, Liberation and Community Psychology, Weight Stigma and Sizeism
- Multicultural Research, Trauma, BIPOC, Rural Populations
- tiffany.chiu@ndus.edu
- Mental Illness Stigma, Integrated Behavioral Health, Trauma, Weight Stigma, Rural Mental Health
- molly.hacker@UND.edu