Philip T. Yanos, Professor

Philip T. Yanos, Ph.D. is a professor in the Psychology Department at John Jay College.  He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from St. John’s University in 1999 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Mental Health Services Research at Rutgers University in 2001.  He has been a faculty member at John Jay since 2006 and was previously a faculty member at in the Department of Psychiatry of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. Professor Yanos first learned about mental health recovery in 1993, and since then, his over-riding professional goal has been to help facilitate recovery through research, direct clinical services, teaching, and mentoring/clinical supervision of professionals in training.  Currently, a major research interest is the effect of stigma on the identity of people with severe mental illness (including self- or internalized stigma) and ways to address it through professional and peer-led means.  He is the co-developer, with David Roe and Paul Lysaker of “Narrative Enhancement and Cognitive Therapy,” a group-based treatment which aims to address the effects of internalized stigma among people with severe mental illness.  He is the author of over 100 articles and book chapters, and is the principal investigator on 2 federally-funded projects: “Randomized Controlled Trial of Treatment for Internalized Stigma in Schizophrenia,” funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, and “Examining Determinants of Community Participation among Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities,” funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
 

Kellie Courtney, Master’s Student

Shay Feuer, Master’s Student

Hansly Garden Mauricio, Bachelor/Masters Student

Hansly Garden Mauricio is a third-year student in the Forensic Psychology BA/MA program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her research interests are alternatives to incarceration and community-based reentry programs, focusing on issues of access and structural barriers that affect successful participation.
 

Mariam Khan, Bachelor/Masters Student

Mariam is in her second year of the dual-degree Bachelor’s/Master’s program in Forensic Psychology. Her research interests include mental health stigma among South Asian Americans, false confessions and wrongful convictions, and generalized anxiety in youth post-pandemic. She hopes to pursue doctoral-level education after graduation and get a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
 

Christina Kliukha, Bachelor/Masters Student

Student Christina Kliukha is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in forensic psychology and a master’s degree in Forensic Counseling through the ADAP Program. Her academic interests include research on adolescent offenders, criminal behavior, mental health stigma towards offenders, and incarcerated individuals dealing with serious mental illnesses (SMIs). After obtaining her counseling license, she aspires to provide counseling to incarcerated juvenile offenders and subsequently pursue a PHD in Clinical Psychology. She joined Dr. Yanos research lab in Fall 2025 to further develop her knowledge on mental health stigma, serious mental illness, and evidenced-based treatment for SMIs.
 

Marlene Linval, Masters Student

Marlene Linval is a graduate student in the Forensic Mental Health and Counseling master’s program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She earned her bachelor’s degree at John Jay with a focus in criminal justice and a minor in psychology, and she is also a member of the Advanced Victimology Program. Her research interests include mental health recovery, stigma, crisis intervention, and victimology. She is especially interested in examining community perceptions of mental illness and the lived experiences of individuals with mental illness. Marlene hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology with the goal of becoming a child psychologist.
 

Melissa Martinez, Master’s Student

Veronica Mason, Masters Student

I am a first year master’s student in the forensic mental health program. I got my B.A in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay. My research interests include desistance from crime, community reentry, and the role of mental health stigma in shaping reintegration outcomes.
 

Emma Nolasco, Masters Student

Emma Nolasco is currently a Forensic Case Manager for the Manhattan Community Reentry Assistance Network. Her department works with individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses and substance use who have recently been released from the department of corrections. Emma was a previous lab member during her undergrad at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and has recently returned for her master’s in forensic Mental Health Counseling. In this lab she aims to strengthen her research skills and continue to pursue her interest in juvenile detention centers and mental health stigma.
 

Lyss Riccardi, Masters Student

Lyss Ricciardi is a first-year master’s student in John Jay’s Forensic Psychology program. He graduated from Dickinson College in 2025 with a B.A in Psychology and chose to continue his studies at John Jay to pursue researching the ways in which stigma against mental health conditions affects jury and attorney biases, as well as general trial proceedings. He plans to pursue a doctoral degree after earning his MA in Forensic Psychology.
 

Caitlin (Cat) Sanders, Masters Student

Cat Sanders is a second-year MA student in the Forensic Psychology program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Cat is a dual-track student, completing both the thesis and externship components of the program. Cat’s master’s thesis examines the exclusion criteria used in New York City’s mental health courts, with a focus on how these criteria shape access to diversion and treatment for justice-involved individuals with serious mental illness. Cat’s broader research interests include the assessment of dangerousness in offender populations and the study of psychopathy in minority offender groups, with particular attention to gender differences and systemic bias in forensic evaluation and decision-making. Following graduation, Cat plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology to continue conducting clinically informed research that bridges forensic assessment, policy, and mental health equity.
 

Victoria Shepard, Doctoral Student

Victoria is a first-year PhD student in Clinical Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She earned her BS in Psychology, with a minor in Spanish, from the University of Washington in 2022. Before beginning her doctoral training, Victoria served as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Washington’s SPIRIT Center under the mentorship of Dr. Sarah Kopelovich. In this role, she led coordination for phase two of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Training Study, a randomized controlled trial evaluating the first conversational-AI–enhanced digital tool designed to train mental health practitioners in CBT for psychosis. She also coordinated the Psychosis REACH (Recovery by Enabling Adults Carers at Home) program, which equips caregivers with CBTp skills to better support loved ones with psychotic disorders. Alongside her research responsibilities, Victoria provided therapeutic services to individuals with SMI through group-based interventions in inpatient settings. Her current research interests are to improve psychosocial functioning and recovery outcomes for people with SMI with a particular interest in family involvement and stigma reduction within forensic contexts.
 

Lily Walsh, Masters Student

Lily is in the second year of the Forensic Psychology MA program. She completed her bachelor’s in psychology with a concentration in forensics and a minor in criminal justice at the University of New Haven. During her undergraduate studies, Lily was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, where she completed an independent clinical research project under faculty advisement. The research examined the role of childhood family violence in the development of adult criminal cognitions. In fall of 2024 Lily presented a poster of this project at the New York State Psychological Association annual conference. Currently, in the Mental Health Recovery Research Lab under the advisement of Dr. Yanos, she is completing a thesis for the MA program. The project focuses on the potential biasing effects of risk assessment information in the sentencing of defendants of various social classes and mental health statuses. Following the master’s program Lily hopes to pursue a doctoral in clinical psychology.
 

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