Lyda Holguin-Gaviria, Ph.D.

Mentor: Carman Gill, Ph.D.

Affiliation: College of Education Counseling

Lyda Holguin-Gaviria, Ph.D., is a counselor educator and licensed clinical professional counselor in Maryland and Florida, and a National Board-Certified Counselor.

She said she proudly identifies herself as an immigrant in the United States.

Holguin-Gaviria completed her doctorate degree in counseling at the George Washington University, Washington D.C., and master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling at Villanova University, Pennsylvania. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali-Colombia. She also attended the English Language Institute at the University of Delaware where she learned English as a second language and with academic purposes.

Currently, she is completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Florida Atlantic University teaching counseling courses for doctoral and master-level students. She is trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Parent-child Interaction Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy evidence-based interventions to support children and families exposed to single and complex trauma.

Holguin-Gaviria has experience providing clinical services in outpatient, inpatient, community-based, school and private practice settings. Her clinical and research interests are dedicated to understanding mental health issues in immigrants and underserved populations compromised as a result of trauma, poverty, micro- and macro aggressions, and other factors associated with the process of cultural adjustment (e.g., barriers with language, legal status, finding jobs and accessing education and health).

Holguin-Gaviria said she is also interested in promoting research that accurately represents Latinxs.