The HEARTFUL Lab

X LogoInstagramMental Health and Equity in Access to Research and Trauma Treatment for Underserved and Low Resourced

The HEARTFUL lab focuses on exploring mental health, equity, and access, particularly for underserved and under-resourced communities affected by intergenerational trauma. It uses community-based action research to improve access to and quality of care for diverse, low-resource, and underserved populations such as immigrants neurologically diverse (e.g., Autism) affected by trauma-induced mental health issues. 

Dr. Waggy Zeleke leads the lab in collaboration with colleagues, students, and research team members worldwide. She currently has research projects in the US and Ethiopia.

The Lab integrates several domains: psychology, mental health, community wellness, Compassionate Inquiry, Community-Based participatory approach, and culture and system model

Goals

Our research team aims to advance culturally and contextually responsive and integrated approaches in the context of trauma-informed psychotherapeutic care for underserved populations, including immigrant children with autism.

This research addresses access to and utilizing care issues in two main ways:

  1. Sharing wellbeing-focused, trauma-conscious, and embodied psychotherapy interventions (e.g., trauma-sensitive integrated mental healthcare, context-inclusive approaches) with immigrants’ families
  2. Co-developing and implementing interventions that broaden psychotherapy's reach (e.g., technological, community-based) while evaluating what works best for youth with Autism from underserved population

We aim to serve at-risk and underrecognized groups, such as those who have been exposed to historical trauma, intergenerational trauma, interpersonal traumas, have disabling life experiences, and/or may be experiencing psychosociocultural oppression.

Join Us

The HEARTFUL lab is accepting applications for volunteer undergraduate and graduate research assistants. Application is ongoing throughout the year. Interested students should email Dr. Waggy Zeleke at zelekew@vcu.edu with a statement of intent that includes research interests, research experience, and career and academic goals.

Autism in the US

  • Validating Caregiver skills training program to Ethiopian and Eritrean Immigrant families of children with autism in the US
  • Care Map for transitioning youth with autism from immigrant families

Autism in Ethiopia

  • Measuring Intervention and treatment response for children with Autism
  • Parental engagement and community involvement in health care and education system for children with autism in Ethiopia

Trauma

  • Culturally responsive trauma-informed mental health treatment to internally displaced people
  • Narrative Exposure Group therapy to women who are internally displaced
  • Trauma-conscious compassion inquiry to address the mental health needs of immigrants in the US

Parenting

  • Exploring the gift of parenting
  • Relationship development in the family system
  • Parenting a child with special needs 

2024

  • Zeleke, W. A., Dababnah, S., Dixon, P., Adere, A., Reinhold, Y., … Hagos, S. (2024). Adaptation of the Caregiver Skills Training program for Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant families of autistic children in the US. International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/20473869.2024.2414135
  • Holmes C, Zeleke W, Sampath S, Kimbrough T. “Hanging on by a Thread”: The Lived Experience of Parents of Children with Medical Complexity. Children. 2024; 11(10):1258. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11101258

2023

  • Wondie, Y., Zeleke, W.A. & Melesse, M (2023)In between the lines of the narrative map: Phenomenological analysis of war rape victims in Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. PLOS https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289106

2022

  • Zeleke, W., & Lopez, L. (2022). Racial, Ethnic, and Immigration Intolerance: A Framework for Understanding Violence and Trauma. Trauma Counseling: Theories and Interventions for Managing Trauma, Stress, Crisis, and Disaster, 267.

2021

  • Koester, L. S., & Zeleke, W. A. (2021). Editorial: Mental health and well-being among African children: Implications of Western approaches to counseling and treatment. Frontiers in Sociology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.727587
  • Zeleke, W. A., Hughes, T. L., & Kanyongo, G. (2021). Assessing the effectiveness of professional development training on autism and culturally responsive practice for educators and practitioners in Ethiopia. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.583674

2020

  • Zeleke, W. A., Hughes, T. L., & Drozda, N. (2020). Home–school collaboration to promote mind-body health. In C. Maykel & M. A. Bray (Eds.), Promoting mind-body health in schools: Interventions for mental health professionals (pp. 11–26). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000157-002
  • Hughes, T. L., Quinn, C., Tiberi, A., & Zeleke, W. A. (2020). Developing a framework to increase access to mental health services for children with special needs in Ethiopia. Frontiers in Sociology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.583931

2019

  • Zeleke, Waganesh, Hughes, T., & Drozda, N. (2019). Childhood in Africa: Health and Wellness in Body, Mind, Soul, and Spirit. New Perspectives on African Childhood:. Constructions, Histories, Representations and Understandings.
  • Zeleke, W.A., Hughes, T.L. & Drozda, N. Disparities in Diagnosis and Service Access for Minority Children with ASD in the United States. J Autism Dev Disord 49, 4320–4331 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04131-9
  • Zeleke, W.A., Nichols, L.M. & Wondie, Y. Mental Health in Ethiopia: an Exploratory Study of Counseling Alignment with Culture. Int J Adv Counselling 41, 214–229 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-018-9368-5

2018

  • Zeleke, W. A., Hughes, T., & Chitiyo, M. (2018). The path to an autism spectrum disorders diagnosis in Ethiopia: Parent perspective. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88(3), 316–327. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000249
  • Zeleke, W.A., Koester, L.S. & Lock, G. Parents’ Understanding of Adopted Children’s Ways of Being, Belonging, and Becoming. J Child Fam Stud 27, 1428–1439 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0995-y
  • Zeleke, W. A., Karayiğit, C., & Myers‐Brooks, K. (2018). Using self‐regulated learning strategies to develop students’ multicultural counseling competency. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 46(1), 40–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmcd.12091 
  • Park, M., Chitiyo, M., Huh, C., & Zeleke, W. (2018). An assessment of perceived antecedents to attitudes of college students towards children with autism. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1254194

2017

  • Zeleke, W. A., Chitiyo, M., & Hughes, T. L. (2017). Autism service providers report: Behavioral and educational interventions used in Ethiopia. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 6(3), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2016.1278568
  • Minaye, Abebaw, & Zeleke, Waganesh A.. (2017). Attitude, Risk Perception and Readiness of Ethiopian Potential Migrants and Returnees Towards Unsafe Migration. African Human Mobility Review, 3(1), 702-731. Retrieved September 30, 2024, from http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2410-79722017000100003&lng=en&tlng=en.
  • Habtamu, K., Minaye, A. & Zeleke, W.A. Prevalence and associated factors of common mental disorders among Ethiopian migrant returnees from the Middle East and South Africa. BMC Psychiatry 17, 144 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1310-6
  • Huang, A. X., Hughes, T. L., Sutton, L. R., Lawrence, M., Chen, X., Ji, Z., & Zeleke, W. (2017). Understanding the self in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD): A Review of Literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01422

2016

  • Yakubova, G., & Zeleke, W. A. (2016). A Problem-Solving Intervention Using iPads to Improve Transition-Related Task Performance of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Special Education Technology, 31(2), 77-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162643416650023
  • Zeleke, W. (2016). Children with Autism in Ethiopia: Diagnosis, Laws, and Educational and Behavioral Intervention. Journal of the International Association of Special Education, 16(1), 64–72.

2015

  • Zeleke, W., & Minaye, A. Kygana 3 (2015) Mental Health and Somatic Distress among Ethiopian Migrant Returnees from the Middle East. Int J Ment Health Psychiatry 1: 2. doi: http://dx.Doi.org/10.4172/ijmhp,1000106, 2.
  • Minaye, A., & Zeleke, W. (2015). Re-conceptualizing human trafficking: The experiences of Ethiopian returnee migrants. Journal of Trafficking, Organized Crime and Security, 1(1), 9–23. 
  • Sommers-Flanagan, J., Polanchek, S., Zeleke, W. A., Hood, M. H. E., & Shaw, S. L. (2015). Effectiveness of Solution-Focused Consultations on Parent Stress and Competence. The Family Journal, 23(1), 49-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480714555696
  • Sommers-Flanagan, J., Zeleke, W. A., & Hood, M. H. E. (2015). (PDF) clinical interview. The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319336218_Clinical_Interview