Our Students
Amanda Krause: Project Coordinator
Amanda is the project coordinator for the CSAP/PCFS team. Amanda is in her fifth year of doctoral studies in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Ottawa, supervised by Dr. Maria Rogers. Her research adopts a systemic perspective to child and adolescent developmental trajectories with a special interest in how relationship quality with important others can both positively and negatively influence development. Her dissertation research focuses on school absenteeism of Canadian children and youth. She is particularly interested in how mental health and relationship quality intersect with school attendance.
Lauren Gowans: Project Manager
Lauren is the project manager for the CSAP/PCFS team. Lauren graduated from Carleton University in 2023 with a B.A. Honours in Developmental Psychology. Now, Lauren is in her first year of the Masters of Education in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Toronto. Much of the research Lauren has been involved with and interested in pertains to children and adolescents’ mental health, ADHD, parent-child relationships, and school attendance. Her past research focused on child and adolescent internalizing problems and parental anxiety during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carolynn Hare
Dr. Hare is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Psychology Department at Carleton University, supervised by Dr. Maria Rogers. She previously completed her PhD in Psychology at Western University, and MA in Child and Youth Studies at Brock University. She is interested in examining whether comorbidities, child and adolescents' mental health, sensory processing issues, and sociodemographic factors impact chronic school absenteeism, especially in youth with ADHD and other at-risk populations. Her doctoral work focused on sensory processing and multisensory integration in youth and adults with ADHD.
Chris Aglah
Chris is a second-year PhD student supervised by Dr. Jess Whitley. Chris’s current research interest and thesis is School Absenteeism Among Immigrant and Refugee Students in Canada: Exploring Causes, Impacts, and Solutions. As a teacher, Chris has also seen firsthand how absenteeism affects students' progress. So, Chris would like to explore the effects of absenteeism particularly among immigrant and refugee students in Canada.
Zara Hewson
Zara is the lab manager at Rogers Child Mental Health Labs at Carleton University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Psychology from Carleton University, where her research explored the learning behaviours of children with ADHD during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the roles of parental self-efficacy and parent-child relationships. Zara’s current research interests involve identifying protective factors against absenteeism in school-aged children, with a particular focus on how parents can support their children both at home and in educational settings. Her goal is to examine factors and interventions that can help mitigate the potential long-term effects of absenteeism on Canadian children's mental, emotional, and academic well-being.
Mina Ozturk
Mina is a second-year MA student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Ottawa, currently being supervised by Dr. Jess Whitley. She is interested in exploring school inclusion and exclusion by looking into the sense of belonging and acceptance of neurodivergent children. Her thesis focuses on the complex interplay of physical inclusion/exclusion (reduced school days and absenteeism) and the psychosocial inclusion/exclusion (sense of belonging at school) of students with ASD in Canada. Her previous research explored the predictors of learning disabilities and ADHD in university students.
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Rieley O'Leary
Rieley (she/her) is a second year MA Counselling Psychology student at the University of Ottawa. She is being co-supervised by Dr. Maria Rogers and Dr. Jess Whitley. She received her honours B.Sc in Neuroscience and Mental Health followed by a B.Ed in teaching intermediate/senior biology and mathematics. She is broadly interested in school-based mental health and Indigenous practices in education. Her thesis work is focusing on Indigenous perspectives on school attendance in collaboration with an urban Inuit community in Ottawa. Her research is informed by her experiences as a teacher, therapist-in-training and being from mixed settler and Indigenous (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe) ancestry.
Tuba Aktas
Tuba is a second-year MA student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Ottawa, she is being supervised by Dr. David Smith. She is interested in exploring the protective and risk factors that impact the well-being of immigrant children. Through her research, she aims understand the psychosocial and socio-environmental factors and their connection to internalizing and externalizing problems within the school context.
Christine Okigbo
Christine is a second-year MA Psychology student at Carleton University. Every missed school day is a lost opportunity for learning, but what if the solution starts with parents? Her research looks at whether parental involvement in education (school-based involvement e.g. PTA meetings and parent-teacher relationship) explains the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and school absences. This research hopes to broaden current literature on parental involvement and school absences and inform programs aimed at reducing school absences in children with ADHD symptomatology.
Olivia Lazimbat
Liv is a second-year Master’s candidate in Counselling Psychology at the University of Ottawa. As a qualifying psychotherapist at CAFCO-CEAFO, Liv supports children and youth in navigating emotional challenges, family dynamics, trauma, and neurodivergent experiences. Her research focuses on the intersection of parental emotional distress, parent-child dynamics, and chronic absenteeism in children with ADHD.
Charlotte Girard
Charlotte is a first year Masters student in Dr. Maria Rogers’s Lab at Carleton. She is interested in studying the role of positive teacher-student relationships, specifically on student with ADHD’s academic and socio-emotional resilience. Additionally, she is interested in how these relationships can impact the degree of school absenteeism among this population, and in turn how absenteeism varies as a function of resilience.
Kennedy McCallum
Kennedy is a first year MA student in the Counselling Psychology program at the University of Ottawa. Under the supervision of Dr. David Smith, she is excited to begin her research on the relationship between parental involvement in their child’s mental health treatment, and their child’s school attendance and overall success.
Kiera Young
Kiera is currently in her first year of the Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology program at the University of Ottawa. Under the supervision of Jess Whitley, her thesis will be a scoping review that examines family-based interventions for addressing school absenteeism.
Milan Le
Milan is in her first year of the M.A. in counselling psychology program at the University of Ottawa, and is completing her thesis under the supervision of Dr. Jessica Whitley. Milan's research will be centered on exploring the cultural norms that influence school absenteeism patterns across ethnically diverse communities. She is passionate about understanding culture and religion and is committed to pursuing research with the aim of providing culturally sensitive school environments.
Snimer Nagi
Snimer is a first year M.A. Candidate in the Counselling Psychology program at the University of Ottawa in Dr. Maria Rogers’ child mental health lab. For her thesis, Snimer aims to investigate the scope, impact, correlates, and causes of school absenteeism among Canadian children and youth with an immigrant and ethnic minority background. Her research interests include child and youth mental health, cross-cultural psychology, developmental psychology, school psychology, social determinants of health, and health psychology.
Annabeth Perry
Annabeth is a fourth year student in her BA Honours in Psychology with a concentration in Developmental, minor in disability studies, and a stream in mental health and wellbeing. In Dr. Maria Rogers lab, she is researching parent support for learning and family school relationship in relation to chronic absenteeism from school in ADHD symptomatology children ages 9 to 14.
Danika Aubry
Danika is a fourth-year honours student majoring in psychology with a concentration in health psychology at Carleton University. Her research interests include neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), parental involvement in education, chronic absenteeism, and mental well-being in children and adolescents. Her thesis investigates parental involvement in education for parents with elevated ADHD symptoms.