Hey y’all
I am a full-time research psychologist, with a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Mississippi in 2018. My main gig is as a researcher and statistics/methods consultant at the VISN 17 Center of Excellence. I also moonlight as a statistics instructor for doctoral students in behavior analysis at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
It’s been a minute, but I’m also trained as a therapist. My primary therapeutic orientations are ACT and mindfulness-based interventions. I have had additional focused training in the areas of trauma and substance use.
I also spend a lot of time making tutorial material on applied statistics, particularly from with the R computing framework.
Lately
Welcome to my blog
Switch to Hugo Apéro: These are my notes

The purpose of this post is to highlight some of the steps I took to switch my blogdown website to the Hugo Apéro theme. At a minimum, I’m hoping this post will help me better understand how to set up my website the next time it needs an overhaul. Perhaps it will be of some help to you, too.
Read moreSet your sigma prior when you know very little about your sum-score data

In this post, we discuss ways to set a prior for sigma when you know little about your sum-score data. Along the way, we intruduce Popoviciu’s inequality, the uniform distribution, and the beta-binomial distribution.
Read moreAcademic publications
Partnered implementation of the veteran sponsorship initiative: protocol for a randomized hybrid type 2 effectiveness—implementation trial

Abstract Background: The USA is undergoing a suicide epidemic for its youngest Veterans (18-to-34-years-old) as their suicide rate has almost doubled since 2001. Veterans are at the highest risk during their first-year post-discharge, thus creating a “deadly gap.” In response, the nation has developed strategies that emphasize a preventive, universal, and public health approach and embrace the value of community interventions. The three-step theory of suicide suggests that community interventions that reduce reintegration difficulties and promote connectedness for Veterans as they transition to civilian life have the greatest likelihood of reducing suicide.
Read moreDevelopment and validation of the State Moral Elevation Scale: Assessing state-level elevation across nonclinical and clinical samples

Abstract Research on moral elevation has steadily increased and identified several psychosocial benefits that bear relevance to both the general population and people with psychological distress. However, elevation measurement is inconsistent, and few state-level measures have been created and critically evaluated to date. To address this gap, the State Moral Elevation Scale (SMES) was developed and tested using an online sample (N = 930) including subsamples of general participants (nonclinical) and those who screened positive for mental health symptoms (clinical).
Read moreWorkshops
Introduction to Bayesian statistics with brms and the tidyverse

In partnership with Physalia Course, this will be my first introductory Bayesian statistics workshop since grad school.
Read more