Stephanie Ernestus

Biography

Professor Ernestus received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Nathanson Family Resilience Center, in UCLA's Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. 

Prior to arriving at Stonehill, Professor Ernestus was a clinical specialist and supervising psychologist for the UCLA Youth, Stress and Mood Program, which is dedicated to improving health and mental health in children and adolescents and developing and evaluating treatments and services for depression and suicide prevention. 

She also taught at UCLA, Penn State University and the University at Albany, State University of New York, including courses on Abnormal Psychology, Childhood Behavior Disorders, and Statistical Methods in Psychology, among others.  Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, Substance Use & Misuse, and School Mental Health, among others.

She joined the Stonehill Psychology Department in 2019, and loves working with undergraduate students who are interested in learning more about research and careers in psychology.

She is particularly passionate about mentoring and supporting students who identify as first-generation, BIPOC, LGBTQI+, or otherwise a part of an under-represented group in psychology. She serves on the JED Campus Committee, is the faculty advisor for the Psychology Society, and helped to found the Psychology Peer Mentoring program in 2020.

Additionally, she serves as Diversity Chair of the Psychology Department, helping the department meet its DEI goals by supporting internal faculty training, identifying and implementing needed department changes, and increasing programming, such as the Deep Dive Into Diversity (D3) Week.

She is a licensed clinical psychologist in California and hold temporary licensure in Massachusetts.

In her personal time, she is passionate about traveling and visiting new places.

Education

• B.A., Psychology and English, Lafayette College
• M.A. and Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York

Areas of Interest

Professor Ernestus’s area of interest involves identifying how the complex interconnected variables that impact children result in complex outcomes at later ages. Specifically, she identifies how different factors in a child's life influence the development and treatment of psychological outcomes such as anxiety and depression, in order to best understand how to create more effective prevention and treatment programs.

Courses Taught

• Intro to Psychopathology
• Child Psychopathology and Its Treatment
• Psychotherapy Practicum
• Multicultural Psychology