Faith Scanlon

Therapy for all: Faith Scanlon

School/College: College of Liberal Arts
Degree: BA, psychology, 2017
Hometown: Glen Cove, New York
Current Job Title: Clinical research fellow
Current Employer: Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Social dilemma. Faith Scanlon, CLA ’17, knows that some members of society wouldn’t choose to work professionally with people in prison due to the stigma surrounding those who are incarcerated. But for Faith, a psychologist and researcher, it’s a calling. For approaching a decade now, she has created, studied and promoted new methods to improve the mental health of individuals confined to jail and reduce recidivism rates.

MAD scientist. Faith originally planned to become a private practice therapist. That changed when as an undergraduate student she took on a role as research assistant at Temple’s Mechanisms of Affect Dysregulation (MAD) Lab. Under the tutelage of Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Michael McCloskey, the lab’s director, Faith developed a passion for the power of scientific research to identify best practices that can help psychologists everywhere better serve their patients.

Honoree Faith Scanlon standing and smiling. She is wearing glasses, a tan sweater and red turtleneck.

“Even as an undergrad research assistant, I felt like I was pouring myself into something that was going to make a wide impact. That was a really formative experience that significantly impacted the work that I wanted to do.”

—Faith Scanlon
Clinical research fellow

Honoree Faith Scanlon standing outside and wearing a pink scarf

While studying abroad during her junior year as part of the Temple in Spain program, Faith found space to reflect on her path and confidently decided to pursue a doctoral degree. That summer, a Merit Scholarship Educational Enhancement Stipend from Temple’s Honors Program helped pay for Faith to pursue prestigious research internships at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City and NYU’s Langone Medical Center the following year.

Temple foundation. Faith built on what she learned about emotional regulation in the MAD Lab, attending Texas Tech for grad school due to its focus on correctional facilities. Her dissertation examined whether an established 77-session therapy method for prison inmates can be pared down to a more accessible nine-session program in jail. Initial results showed promising outcomes, and she’s now continuing this research to refine the methodology as a clinical research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Photography by Ryan S. Brandenberg
Videography by Eric Lovett