Lucybel Mendez
Lucybel Mendez
Dr. Lucybel Mendez will join the Psychology Department faculty at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in Fall 2023. She received her B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Criminal Justice from Florida International University in 2015 and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Utah in 2019 and 2023. She completed her Pre-Doctoral Psychology Internship (Child Track) at the Institute of Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Mendez’s clinical orientation integrates socioecological, trauma-focused, and developmentally-centered perspectives with evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapeutic principles, including third-wave approaches. She has expertise in treating youth (ages 7 to 21) and their families, who, following traumatic events, exhibit posttraumatic stress disorder and other posttrauma reactions, including depression, generalized anxiety, rumination, anger, aggression, and behavioral problems. She also has expertise in treating non-traumatized children and adolescents with symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety. Further, she conducts comprehensive psychological assessments and targeted trauma-focused evaluations with youth. Lastly, she is a native Spanish speaker born in Cuba and is proficient in providing therapy and assessment services to monolingual and multilingual Spanish-speaking families. Given her background and experiences, Dr. Mendez is equipped to supervise treatment that utilizes Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), specifically, Trauma-Focused CBT, Rumination-Focused CBT, Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention, and Coping Cat. In addition, she is able to supervise clinical work that incorporates Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, self-compassion, and mindfulness-based skills, as well as parent behavior management training, safety prevention, and assessments. She also is comfortable providing Spanish supervision for bilingual and multilingual trainees working with monolingual and multilingual Spanish-speaking families.