People

Melissa Schick is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Study of Trauma, Addiction, and Recovery (STAR) Lab within the Division of Prevention and Community Research (DPCR) at the Yale School of Medicine. Her research program focuses on the intersection of trauma, addiction, and health equity, with a particular emphasis on how positive emotional and psychological processes shape resilience and recovery. Dr. Schick’s work examines substance use and related outcomes among individuals disproportionately affected by stress and adversity, including those in recovery from substance use, trauma-exposed individuals, and members of marginalized and minoritized communities. This work treats positive psychological states and skills as measurable mechanisms that can buffer traumatic stress and discrimination, reduce substance use and related consequences, and potentially be leveraged as interventions to promote well-being. Methodologically, Dr. Schick’s work (a) leverages experience sampling and other intensive longitudinal methodologies to capture within-person fluctuations in positive processes and examine their proximal links to substance use and (b) focuses on psychometrics and measurement supporting valid assessment in diverse samples when testing interventions, including positive psychological interventions. Dr. Schick's work is currently funded through federal (i.e., National Institute on Drug Abuse) and foundation (i.e., Society of Addiction Psychology) grants.

Kaylyn Garcia (she/her/hers) is a Psychology Fellow within the Yale Department of Psychiatry's Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology. Her primary placement is at The Consultation Center (TCC), and her secondary placement is at the Substance Use and Addiction Treatment Unit (SATU). She is a doctoral candidate in Clinical-Community Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Utilizing community-based participatory research approaches, Kaylyn partners withcommunities to identify health priorities and co-create health programs, while examiningcommunity-academic partnerships and systems-level initiatives to promote health equity. More recently, she has begun exploring the intersection between substance use and moral injury as an emerging area of research. In her clinical work, Kaylyn integrates third-wave cognitive therapies and an ecological systems framework to support adults presenting primarily with substance use, moral injury, and trauma-related concerns. Kaylyn holds a BA in Psychology from Western Oregon University and an MA in Community Psychology from the University of New Haven. She also worked as a Research Associate at The Consultation Center at Yale University for two years prior to her doctoral studies.

Johanna Perez is a Postgraduate Associate who works in the Study of Trauma, Addiction, and Recovery Lab (STAR). Johanna’s research interests focuses on marginalized communities, examining how cultural identity shapes resilience and how systemic inequities affect treatment outcomes. She is particularly committed to community-engaged research that informs culturally responsive interventions. Johanna holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelor of Fine Art from Tufts University where she previously worked at Mass General Hospital in the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders.