College of Education and Health Professions Alum Recognized by American Counseling Association

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Julia Conroy

Julia Conroy, an alumna of the College of Education and Health Professions, was recently selected as the recipient of the 2024 American Counseling Association Best Practices in Research, Counseling Practitioner Award.

Conroy was awarded the honor by the American Counseling Association, a nonprofit centered around those in the counseling profession. The organization provides various opportunities and education to members and hosts an annual conference.

"This award is an incredible encouragement to me as a mental health counselor. I love combining my roles as a practicing counselor and a researcher, so it is an honor to have an organization like the ACA see value in that work, especially as a research team that I am leading is planning to launch another data project in the fall of 2024," Conroy said.

The award was given to Conroy for her research dissertation, published in September 2022, highlighting the coregulatory effects of emotionally focused therapy. The piece was co-authored with Ryan Rana, executive director of the Joshua Center, and College of Education and Health Professions faculty members Kristi Perryman, Samantha Robinson, Paul Blisard and Michelle Gray.

"Julia is the first U of A student to win this award, and we are so excited that her remarkable work has been recognized by the American Counseling Association," said Kristi Perryman, who chaired Conroy's dissertation committee. "Her article, published in our flagship journal, is the first research of its kind and has important implications for the field."

The research, Conroy said, is an examination of emotionally focused therapy and how the method affects patients in couples therapy. The clients wore wristbands that tracked their heart rate during sessions, and through this, the researchers explored the patients' physiological synchrony.

Conroy makes sure to keep the impact on the people involved in her research as the focal point of her work.

"This research clarifies how to administer the counseling process more effectively for counselors who are hoping to instill new patterns of more healthy functioning," she said. "Eventually, I hope the physiological research will encourage insurance companies to expand mental health care coverage to make mental health care more accessible."

After she received her doctorate in counselor education and supervision at the U of A in 2021, Conroy worked as an adjunct faculty member. She currently works as a licensed professional counselor at the Joshua Center and gets to do what she loves day in and day out: helping people.

"My desire for counseling originally emerged as I worked as a counselor at a summer camp near Siloam Springs, Arkansas. It was hard for me to send campers home that needed so much additional support because I felt helpless to do more," she said. "Becoming a counselor gives me the opportunity to support hurting individuals walking through hard seasons in a more sustained way."