Dr. Misty Ginicola

Misty Ginicola, Ph.D.
Phone: 203-392-5913
Office: DA 115 B
Email: ginicolam2@southernct.edu

Curriculum Vitae
Teaching Philosophy
Research Statement 

Dr. Misty Ginicola is an Associate Professor in the Counseling and School Psychology (CSP) department at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). Dr. Ginicola is also currently the Training and Evaluation Associate for the
Mutt-i-grees Social and Emotional Skills Curriculum at the School of the 21st Century in the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University.

Dr. Ginicola earned a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Exceptional Children at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland. She earned a M.A. Degree in Psychology from SUNY New Paltz, where she received training on counseling psychology. She received two additional Masters Degrees (M.S., M.Ph.) from Yale University and graduated with a Ph.D. from Yale in 2006. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at The School of the 21st Century further focusing on school mental health, education program evaluations, as well as a state-wide initiative in Arkansas designed to improve children's academics and social and emotional skills.

Before joining the faculty in fall of 2006, Dr. Ginicola worked extensively in the fields of research, clinical psychology and education. Since 1998, she has been involved in multiple research projects involving animal studies, clinical research, development and social psychology and developmental disabilities. Throughout her career she has been passionate about not only performing research, but teaching research to others. In addition to research, Dr. Ginicola worked over 10 years in the field of developmental disabilities and mental health. She was trained by the State of New York on Positive Approaches to Behavioral Problems, as well as Strategies for Crisis Intervention and Prevention. In graduate school, Dr. Ginicola worked with Edward Zigler and Matia Finn-Stevenson on school reform programs, program evaluation research and interventions designed to improve the whole-child. She also specializes in counseling for LGBTQ and other diverse populations.

Dr. Ginicola's primary research and teaching interests are in multicultural techniques in counseling. Within this interest lie her previous and current research projects on:

Creative approaches to counseling (using yoga, art, photography, pet therapy)
        - Includes her work on the Muttigrees Curriculum to teach social 
          and emotional skills in children. Click here to watch the CNN interview.
        - Pet Therapy and Animal Studies
        - Phototherapy

Working with LGBTQQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Questioning) clients
        - ethical issues
        - counseling considerations
        - impact of affirmative and non-affirmative religious and spiritual beliefs &
           experiences

Teaching multicultural competence. 
        - Includes her work on the Developmental Approach to Teaching 
          Multicultural Competence, the Diversity Passport and the Multicultural 
          Movie Nights.

Role of development in understanding clients' resiliency and susceptibility to
  psychopathology.
        - Includes her work on her dissertation and subsequent research regarding
         development of depression in children.

Selected Publications:

Ginicola, M. M., Smith, C., & Trzaska, J. (in press). Using photography in counseling: Images of healing. The International Journal of the Image.

Ginicola, M. M., & Smith, C. (2011). The church, the closet & the couch: The counselor's role in assisting clients to integrate their sexual orientation and religious identity. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 5, 304-326.

Ginicola, M. M., & Saccoccio, C. (2011). When research fails to inform: Current treatments for depressed children in an inpatient setting. Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Online: September 2011.
Available at: http://priory.com/psychild.htm

Ginicola, M. M. & Cincotta, L. (2010). Beyond Tolerance Discussion Group Handbook. New Haven, CT: Southern Connecticut State University.

Ginicola, M. M. (Spring 2009). Being a SCSU professor 101. University Diaologue, 5(1), 1-2,5.

Ginicola, M. M. & Saccoccio, C. (2009). Issue Brief: Policy Recommendations for the Reauthorization of NCLB. New Haven, CT: The Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy. Invited Issue Brief for President Obama's Transition Committee.

Ginicola, M. M. & Saccoccio, C. (2008). Good Intentions, unintended consequences: The impact of NCLB on our nation's children. Report on Emotional & Behavioral Disorders in Youth, 8, 27-36. [Peer-Reviewed]

Ginicola, M. M. (November/ December, 2008). Mental Health Problems in Children: What Principals Need to Know About This Emerging Issue.Principal's Magazine: Web Exclusive. [Peer-Reviewed]

Ginicola, M. M. (2007). Children's unique experience of depression: Using a developmental approach to predict variation in symptomology. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 1(9) 1-8. [Peer-Reviewed]