The Family Violence Research Group
Department of Counseling and Educational Development
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The Family Violence Research Group members have been working together for approximately three years, and we share a common interest in identifying effective strategies for promoting the safety of adults and children impacted by domestic violence. You can learn more about our research here.
Our group members include counseling faculty members and current and former Master's and Doctoral students in the UNCG Department of Counseling and Educational Development. We believe it is important to include the perspective of practitioners on our team, and therefore we have always had at least one active team member who works full-time as a domestic violence service provider. You can read more about each of our group members below.
Our group members include counseling faculty members and current and former Master's and Doctoral students in the UNCG Department of Counseling and Educational Development. We believe it is important to include the perspective of practitioners on our team, and therefore we have always had at least one active team member who works full-time as a domestic violence service provider. You can read more about each of our group members below.
Christine E. Murray
Dr. Christine E. Murray is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Couple and Family Counseling Track in the UNCG Department of Counseling and Educational Development. She teaches graduate-level courses in family counseling, family violence, sexuality counseling, and counseling research. Dr. Murray received her Ph.D. in Counselor Education, with a specialization in Marriage and Family Counseling, from the University of Florida. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Sociology at Duke University.
Dr. Murray is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in North Carolina. She has worked as a therapist in the adult outpatient department in a community mental health agency, where she worked primarily with adults who experienced chronic mental health disorders. She also has provided counseling in a variety of other settings, including a school for at-risk adolescents, a children’s outpatient mental health treatment department, a juvenile delinquency diversion program, and churches. Across all of these settings, she worked frequently with clients impacted by various forms of family violence, including current and past intimate partner violence, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and emotional and verbal abuse.
Dr. Murray’s primary research interest relates to the bridging the gap between research and practice in the area of domestic violence. In addition, the family violence-related topics she has addressed through her research and scholarship include the following: coping strategies used by women who have been battered, same-sex intimate partner violence, community-based approaches to domestic violence programming, dating violence among college students, applications of family systems theory to family violence, and intimate partner violence prevention research. The full-text of many of her publications can be found through NC DOCKS. Dr. Murray is the lead author of Responding to Family Violence, a book on conducting psychotherapy with clients impacted by various forms of family violence, which was released in September 2012 by Routledge Mental Health.
Learn more about Dr. Murray here: http://www.christinemurray.info/
Dr. Murray is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in North Carolina. She has worked as a therapist in the adult outpatient department in a community mental health agency, where she worked primarily with adults who experienced chronic mental health disorders. She also has provided counseling in a variety of other settings, including a school for at-risk adolescents, a children’s outpatient mental health treatment department, a juvenile delinquency diversion program, and churches. Across all of these settings, she worked frequently with clients impacted by various forms of family violence, including current and past intimate partner violence, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and emotional and verbal abuse.
Dr. Murray’s primary research interest relates to the bridging the gap between research and practice in the area of domestic violence. In addition, the family violence-related topics she has addressed through her research and scholarship include the following: coping strategies used by women who have been battered, same-sex intimate partner violence, community-based approaches to domestic violence programming, dating violence among college students, applications of family systems theory to family violence, and intimate partner violence prevention research. The full-text of many of her publications can be found through NC DOCKS. Dr. Murray is the lead author of Responding to Family Violence, a book on conducting psychotherapy with clients impacted by various forms of family violence, which was released in September 2012 by Routledge Mental Health.
Learn more about Dr. Murray here: http://www.christinemurray.info/
Allison Marsh Pow
Allison Marsh Pow is currently pursuing her doctorate in Counseling and Counselor Education through the UNCG Department of Counseling and Educational Development. She earned her M.S. and Ed.S. degrees in Community Counseling from UNCG in 2007, and her B.S. in Psychology from Davidson College in 2004. Allison is about to begin her third year as a full-time doctoral student, and expects to graduate in May 2014.
Allison's current focus of study includes response to disaster and community trauma and the experiences of first responders, mindfulness practice, and attachment theory. Allison is a Licensed Professional Counselor in North Carolina and a National Certified Counselor. She has worked providing clinical counseling services in both outpatient and inpatient settings since 2007, with an emphasis on crisis intervention and trauma work. Allison has taught courses in substance abuse, counseling theory, and basic helping skills at the community college and undergraduate levels. She has experience providing clinical supervision to counseling graduate students in internship and clinical practicum. Additionally, she has worked with numerous UNCG faculty on research projects pertaining to domestic violence and other forms of trauma.
Allison's current focus of study includes response to disaster and community trauma and the experiences of first responders, mindfulness practice, and attachment theory. Allison is a Licensed Professional Counselor in North Carolina and a National Certified Counselor. She has worked providing clinical counseling services in both outpatient and inpatient settings since 2007, with an emphasis on crisis intervention and trauma work. Allison has taught courses in substance abuse, counseling theory, and basic helping skills at the community college and undergraduate levels. She has experience providing clinical supervision to counseling graduate students in internship and clinical practicum. Additionally, she has worked with numerous UNCG faculty on research projects pertaining to domestic violence and other forms of trauma.
Evette Horton
Evette Horton is a doctoral candidate at UNC Greensboro, and has a master’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill. She has over 20 years’ experience working with children and families in both school and community settings. She currently serves on the state board of the North Carolina Infant/Young Child Mental Health Association (NCIMHA) and the national board of the Association for Child and Adolescent Counseling (ACAC). She currently is the Child and Family Therapist at UNC School of Medicine’s Horizons program which service mothers with children in a yearlong, residential, treatment program for substance abuse. Her research interests include work on parenting interventions, child maltreatment, infant mental health, and attachment.
Catherine Higgins Johnson
Catherine Johnson, LPCA, LMFTA is the Crisis Intervention Director for
Family Services of Davidson County. In her role as director, Catherine overseas
crisis operations for agency's battered women's shelter and provides counseling
and support services to survivors.
Catherine earned her Master's in counseling from UNCG and has been with
Family Services since graduation in 2009.
Bethany Garr
Bethany Garr is a doctoral student at UNCG. She received her
master's degree in Community Counseling from Youngstown State University in
2006. She has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in both
outpatient and inpatient settings. Her research interests include trauma,
foster care, and advocacy.
Lori Notestine
Lori Notestine, Ph.D., NCC, LPC is an Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at Adams State University in Alamosa, CO. Her clinical practice includes work with adults facing depression, anxiety, and life transition issues, as well adolescents and their families. She also has extensive experience working with women fleeing domestic violence situations, both in shelter and in her counseling practice. Her research interests include violence against women, women’s and gender issues, violence among LGBTQ partners, as well as the use of technology in counselor education.
Paulina Flasch
Paulina Flasch, M.S., Ed.S., NCC, LPCA is a graduate of the master's counseling program at UNC Greensboro (2012), where she first joined the Family Violence Research Team. Her clinical experience with DV includes working with victims, survivors, and children in a shelter program at a domestic violence agency in Raleigh, NC. She is currently practicing in Durham, NC where she does intensive in-home therapy with at-risk children and adolescents and their families. In August 2013, she is heading to Florida where she will begin her doctoral program in Counselor Education at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Melissa Fickling
Melissa Fickling, MA, LPC earned her Master’s degree in Community Counseling from Roosevelt University in Chicago in 2009. She is currently a doctoral student in Counseling and Counselor Education at UNCG. Melissa has experience in college and community settings where she has worked with adults in various types of transition whether in life, relationships, family, or career. Her interests include working with caregivers, people experiencing grief & loss, and those dealing with issues of identity and meaning. Melissa enjoys working with clients of all racial, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. She integrates mindfulness meditation and relaxation in her counseling approach. She is experienced in working with people with mood, anxiety, and adjustment concerns. Her primary research interests include career adjustment, unemployment, and job loss.
Elizabeth Doom
Elizabeth Brunson Doom, MDiv, MS/EdS, LPCA (#A9265), LMFTA (#8095A), NCC (#291142), received her master of science and education specialist degrees from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in Couple and Family Counseling in 2011. A former campus minister, supporting collegians facing life transitions, Elizabeth has further experience providing individual and group counseling with adults, adolescents and families treating mental health issues, parenting concerns and domestic violence in a community mental health agency. Currently, Elizabeth maintains a small private practice and works with bereaved adults, youth and children as a grief counselor at Hospice Palliative CareCenter in Winston-Salem, NC.
