Our Students
Current Students
Amanda Krause: Project Coordinator
Amanda is the project coordinator for the CSAP/PCFS team. Amanda is in her fifth year of doctoral studies in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Ottawa, supervised by Dr. Maria Rogers. Her research adopts a systemic perspective to child and adolescent developmental trajectories with a special interest in how relationship quality with important others can both positively and negatively influence development. Her dissertation research focuses on school absenteeism of Canadian children and youth. She is particularly interested in how mental health and relationship quality intersect with school attendance.
Zara Hewson: Project Manager
Zara is the project manager for the CSAP/PCFS team. She is also the lab manager at Rogers Child Mental Health Labs at Carleton University. Zara is a first-year MA student in Psychology at Carleton University, supervised by Dr. Maria Rogers. Zara’s current research interests involve identifying protective factors against absenteeism in school-aged children, with a particular focus on how parents can support their children both at home and in educational settings. Her goal is to examine factors and interventions that can help mitigate the potential long-term effects of absenteeism on Canadian children's mental, emotional, and academic well-being.
Carolynn Hare
Dr. Hare is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Psychology Department at Carleton University, supervised by Dr. Maria Rogers. She is funded by a Mitacs Postdoctoral Fellowship in partnership with Crossroads Children's Mental Health Centre, where she will be examining the relationship between mental health and school attendance. She is particularly interested in understanding how sensitivity to sensory information and school relationships are related to attendance in youth with ADHD. She previously completed her PhD in Psychology at Western University, and her doctoral work focused on sensory processing and multisensory integration in youth and adults with ADHD.
Chris Aglah
Chris is a second-year PhD student supervised by Dr. Jess Whitley. Chris’s current research interest and thesis is School Absenteeism Among Immigrant and Refugee Students in Canada: Exploring Causes, Impacts, and Solutions. As a teacher, Chris has also seen firsthand how absenteeism affects students' progress. So, Chris would like to explore the effects of absenteeism particularly among immigrant and refugee students in Canada.
Mina Ozturk
Mina is a second-year MA student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Ottawa, currently being supervised by Dr. Jess Whitley. She is interested in exploring school inclusion and exclusion by looking into the sense of belonging and acceptance of neurodivergent children. Her thesis focuses on the complex interplay of physical inclusion/exclusion (reduced school days and absenteeism) and the psychosocial inclusion/exclusion (sense of belonging at school) of students with ASD in Canada. Her previous research explored the predictors of learning disabilities and ADHD in university students.
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Rieley O'Leary
Rieley (she/her) is a second year MA Counselling Psychology student at the University of Ottawa. She is being co-supervised by Dr. Maria Rogers and Dr. Jess Whitley. She received her honours B.Sc in Neuroscience and Mental Health followed by a B.Ed in teaching intermediate/senior biology and mathematics. She is broadly interested in school-based mental health and Indigenous practices in education. Her thesis work is focusing on Indigenous perspectives on school attendance in collaboration with an urban Inuit community in Ottawa. Her research is informed by her experiences as a teacher, therapist-in-training and being from mixed settler and Indigenous (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe) ancestry.
Tuba Aktas
Tuba is a second-year MA student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Ottawa, she is being supervised by Dr. David Smith. She is interested in exploring the protective and risk factors that impact the well-being of immigrant children. Through her research, she aims understand the psychosocial and socio-environmental factors and their connection to internalizing and externalizing problems within the school context.
Olivia Lazimbat
Liv is a second-year Master’s candidate in Counselling Psychology at the University of Ottawa. As a qualifying psychotherapist at CAFCO-CEAFO, Liv supports children and youth in navigating emotional challenges, family dynamics, trauma, and neurodivergent experiences. Her research focuses on the intersection of parental emotional distress, parent-child dynamics, and chronic absenteeism in children with ADHD.
Charlotte Girard
Charlotte is a first year Masters student in Dr. Maria Rogers’s Lab at Carleton. She is interested in studying the role of positive teacher-student relationships, specifically on student with ADHD’s academic and socio-emotional resilience. Additionally, she is interested in how these relationships can impact the degree of school absenteeism among this population, and in turn how absenteeism varies as a function of resilience.
Kennedy McCallum
Kennedy is a first year MA student in the Counselling Psychology program at the University of Ottawa. Under the supervision of Dr. David Smith, she is excited to begin her research on the relationship between parental involvement in their child’s mental health treatment, and their child’s school attendance and overall success.
Kiera Young
Kiera is currently in her first year of the Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology program at the University of Ottawa. Under the supervision of Jess Whitley, her thesis will be a scoping review that examines family-based interventions for addressing school absenteeism.
Milan Le
Milan is in her first year of the M.A. in counselling psychology program at the University of Ottawa, and is completing her thesis under the supervision of Dr. Jessica Whitley. Milan's research will be centered on exploring the cultural norms that influence school absenteeism patterns across ethnically diverse communities. She is passionate about understanding culture and religion and is committed to pursuing research with the aim of providing culturally sensitive school environments.
Snimer Nagi
Snimer is a first year M.A. Candidate in the Counselling Psychology program at the University of Ottawa in Dr. Maria Rogers’ child mental health lab. For her thesis, Snimer aims to investigate the scope, impact, correlates, and causes of school absenteeism among Canadian children and youth with an immigrant and ethnic minority background. Her research interests include child and youth mental health, cross-cultural psychology, developmental psychology, school psychology, social determinants of health, and health psychology.
Sarah Goulding
Sarah is a first-year MA student in Counselling Psychology at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Dr. David Smith. Sarah holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience and Mental Health from Carleton University. Sarah is looking forward to beginning her thesis, which will explore the values, practices, and systemic conditions that shape effective and supportive attendance counselling in schools. To her, absenteeism reflects a complex interplay of factors and challenges that should be approached with care and an understanding of students' individual circumstances.
Nicole Stewart
Nicole is a first-year MA student in Counselling Psychology at the University of Ottawa, completing her thesis under the supervision of Dr. Jess Whitley. Nicole’s research interests focus on how inclusive school programs can promote mental health, learning and school attendance. She aims to explore the linkages between inclusive education, psychosocial adaptation, school absenteeism and educational engagement in neurodivergent students. Her goal is to examine absenteeism not only as a contributor to educational and social exclusion, but also as an opportunity for systemic change that fosters inclusion, success, and wellbeing within the Canadian education system.
Alisa Chambers
Alisa is a fourth-year undergraduate student in developmental psychology, minoring in women and gender studies. Their research interests include how schools can support neurodivergent students and exploring how gender identity, race, and disability influence academic and socioeconomic development. Her honours thesis examines themes in chronic absenteeism among students with disabilities. A fun fact about Alisa is that they are left-handed!
Past Trainees
Lauren Gowans
Lauren was the project manager for the CSAP/PCFS team from 2022 to 2025. Lauren graduated from Carleton University in 2023 with a B.A. Honours in Developmental Psychology. Now, Lauren is in her first year of the Masters of Education in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Toronto. Much of the research Lauren has been involved with and interested in pertains to children and adolescents’ mental health, ADHD, parent-child relationships, and school attendance. Her past research focused on child and adolescent internalizing problems and parental anxiety during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Okigbo
Christine completed her MA in Psychology at Carleton University in 2025. Every missed school day is a lost opportunity for learning, but what if the solution starts with parents? Her research looks at whether parental involvement in education (school-based involvement e.g. PTA meetings and parent-teacher relationship) explains the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and school absences. This research hopes to broaden current literature on parental involvement and school absences and inform programs aimed at reducing school absences in children with ADHD symptomatology.
Annabeth Perry
Annabeth is a fourth year student in her BA Honours in Psychology with a concentration in Developmental, minor in disability studies, and a stream in mental health and wellbeing. In Dr. Maria Rogers lab, she researched parent support for learning and family school relationship in relation to chronic absenteeism from school in ADHD symptomatology children ages 9 to 14.
Danika Aubry
Danika is a fourth-year honours student majoring in psychology with a concentration in health psychology at Carleton University. Her research interests include neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), parental involvement in education, chronic absenteeism, and mental well-being in children and adolescents. Her thesis investigated parental involvement in education for parents with elevated ADHD symptoms.