Our Team

Take your staff’s mental health awareness training to the next level.

Core Team

Gerta Bardhoshi, Ph.D., LMHC

Project Director

319-335-5433

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Dr. Gerta Bardhoshi, a Nationally Certified Counselor, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified School Counselor, and Approved Clinical Supervisor, is the Director of Research and Training in the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health and a Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Iowa. She received her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from George Washington University, and has worked in multiple settings, including schools, clinics, universities, and the federal government as a counselor, educator, clinical supervisor, and program evaluator. A recognized scholar in her field, she was recently named the 6th most published researcher over the last decade in the Journal of Counseling and Development, the flagship journal of the American Counseling Association. She has designed and implemented several school-based interventions to improve social-emotional and mental health outcomes for diverse students, as well as psychometrically evaluated several instruments that measure a range of clinical outcomes. She teaches graduate-level courses on counseling children and adolescents, counseling assessment, and advanced clinical interventions, and is committed to translating evidence-based practices in school mental health that lead to measurable improvements in students’ lives.

Kari Vogelgesang, Ph.D.

Project Co-Director

319-335-5433

kari-vogelgesang@uiowa.edu

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Dr. Kari Vogelgesang is a Clinical Associate Professor of Elementary Education. She also serves as the Director of Professional Development for the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health and the Baker Teacher Leader Center. Dr. Vogelgesang began her career in education as an elementary classroom teacher. In 2015 she graduated from the University of Iowa with her Ph.D. in special education and her area of focus in social, emotional, and behavioral disorders in school-aged children. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in social, emotional, and behavioral interventions for the classroom teacher; characteristics of disabilities; individuals with exceptional needs; and introduction to IEP’s, professional practice, and educational technology.

Martin Kivlighan III, PH.D.

Project Co-Director

319-335-5333

martin-kivlighan@uiowa.edu

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Martin Kivlighan is a professor in the Counseling Psychology program. Martin joined the Counseling Psychology faculty at the University of Iowa in 2015. He earned his PhD in Counseling Psychology from University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2015 and completed his pre-doctoral internship at the University of Maryland Counseling Center. His research interests are in psychotherapy process and outcome, group psychotherapy, therapists’ multicultural orientation, and psychotherapy training. He was recently awarded a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health to increase doctoral training in integrative behavioral health care, substance use prevention and treatment, and telepsychology. As part of this grant, he serves as the co-director of the Telepsychology Training Clinic (TPTC) housed in the College of Education. The TPTC is a community-based training clinic that provides free and accessible mental health services to underserved and underinsured Iowans across the state. Dr. Kivlighan is a licensed psychologist in the state of Iowa and a visiting Associate Professor in Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Blood & Marrow Transplantation at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, where he conducts research and provides clinical services as part of the Psychosocial Oncology Program at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is currently accepting doctoral students for the upcoming academic year.

Jacob Priest, Ph.D., LMFT

Lead Trainer

319-335-6044

jacob-b-priest@uiowa.edu

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With over 10 years of experience in private practice, Jacob Priest, PhD, LMFT, has supported individuals, couples, and families on their path to healthier connections.

Jacob is a licensed marriage and family therapist who teaches about the connection between relationships and our health. He’s an associate professor of couples and family therapy, and provides therapy and supervision at the University of Iowa's LGBTQ Clinic and the UIowa Weight Management Clinic. By studying the relationship between families and individuals, he helps therapists and students assess and diagnose family systems theory.

Bailey Baker

Community Navigator

319-335-0649

bailey-baker@uiowa.edu

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With over 10 years of experience in private practice, Jacob Priest, PhD, LMFT, has supported individuals, couples, and families on their path to healthier connections.

Duhita Mahatmya, PH.D.

Program Evaluator

319-384-3541

duhita-mahatmya@uiowa.edu

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Dr. Mahatmya is an associate research scientist in the College of Education at the University of Iowa. As a research scientist, Dr. Mahatmya oversees multiple projects assessing K-12 and higher education students’ academic and social emotional development. She also serves as a project evaluator on several federally funded grants focused on creating more equitable and inclusive learning environments. Broadly, her research explores how the contexts we live and work in and relationships we have shape our well-being. Dr. Mahatmya has over 40 peer reviewed publications and 80 presentations related to this work. She received a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Iowa State University and a B.S./B.A. in Psychology/English from Drake University.