Michelle Roley-Roberts

Mentor Spotlight

The ABCT Academic Training and Education Standards committee annually solicits nominations for the “Spotlight on a Mentor” recognition to highlight the diversity of excellent mentors within the membership ranks of ABCT. Its goal is to spotlight promising early-career and well-established mentors across all levels of academic rank, areas of specialization, and types of institution. We asked the four 2024 winners to share some wisdom related to their own influential mentors, their mentorship philosophy, and advice for mentees and aspiring mentors. Click here to learn more about Spotlight on a Mentor.

Michelle Roley-Roberts, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and licensed clinical child and adolescent psychologist in the Psychology Department at West Virginia University. She formerly was an assistant professor and director of quality improvement in the Psychiatry Department at Creighton University. She completed her postdoctoral research at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Nisonger Center. She was a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Trainee, a National Institute of Mental Health Child Intervention, Prevention, and Services (CHIPS) Fellow, and a Leadership Education to Advance Diversity (LEAD) Fellow. She graduated from the University of Toledo with her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 2016. She completed her APA-accredited predoctoral internship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in the child track.

Dr. Roley-Roberts has an active research program where she mentors a team of graduate, undergraduate, and post-bachelor scholars. The goal of her research is to investigate and provide culturally sensitive evidence-based assessments and treatments for PTSD toward reducing youth suicide risk. As a first-generation college student, individual with a {dis}ability, and Appalachian from Southeast Ohio, she is passionate about using research to advocate for equitable mental health care and access to knowledge and resources with and for underserved communities.

“I aspire to be a lifelong mentor that uses an evidence-based, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive lens that helps to remove literal and figural barriers related to systemic oppression and -isms in the field of clinical psychology. The kind of mentor that is a perpetual cheerleader while also helping to shape the careers of my mentees in their respective chosen pathways. My style generally is to lead from the back building a collaborative relationship with my mentees at all stages in their careers.

As a first-generation college graduate and person with a {dis}ability who grew up in Appalachia, my mentor style is greatly influenced by my learning [the sometimes-hard way] about the unspoken rules that exist in academia and clinical psychology. I share my own stories about a wide range of experiences – the good and the bad – with my mentees to shine a light on the realities of higher education, whether that be in clinical psychology PhD programs, medical school, or masters level programs. I attempt to create a no-shame experience that explicitly helps mentees explore their values and pick career paths that align with those values. I tell my mentees often that the field doesn’t need another mini-me, the field needs your own authentic self. Let’s work together to figure out how to get you there without compromising who you are.

I have been very fortunate to have really wonderful mentors to shape my career including Dr. Joseph Hovey, whose optimistic – ‘you can do anything!’ style helped me to challenge the imposter syndrome I had. He has been a lifelong mentor to me despite changing institutions midway through my graduate school journey and now living time zones away from one another. Dr. Kristyn Zajac, who became my mentor through the ABCT Women’s SIG mentorship program, has also become a lifelong mentor. I love her approach to mentoring women working in academia/academic medicine as she has a direct style that makes unspoken glass ceiling factors spoken. I borrow heavily from her style because I have seen how powerful de-stigmatizing and de-centralizing systemic -isms is. Dr. Jon Elhai, whose efficiency cannot be topped, has provided a model for how to make sure all the things get done. Finally, to several mentors, Dr. Andrea Witwer, Dr. Adrienne Fricker-Elhai, Dr. Khiela Holmes, Dr. Karin Vanderzee and Dr. Glenn Mesman in the clinical child arena whose passion for improving the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents with developmental disabilities and experiences of childhood traumatic stress and who have intersectional marginalized identities has been contagious and inspiring and who are genuinely good humans whose approach to mentoring is to see mentees as humans first, and trainees second, have greatly shaped my own mentoring style.

Find mentors who you can connect with and who see you and your potential. Sometimes mentors are not who you expect them to be so being open to who mentors you is probably one of the greatest strengths mentees can bring to the table. I also would say that no one mentor will be able to give you everything you need to further your career. Find several mentors who can fill in gaps for you. Remember that mentors are human – they each come with strengths and areas for growth. You will be most successful when you, yourself, are reflective and introspective about who you are, what you need, and what your goals are.”