Lundeen Selected for Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling Executive Council

College of Education and Health Professions faculty member Lindsay Lundeen was recently elected to serve on the 2026 Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC) Executive Council.

AARC, the American Counseling Association's research division, promotes evidence-based practice and ensures that assessments or practices used with clients are empirically tested and grounded. The organization publishes two journals, Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development and Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation. Lundeen, an assistant professor of counselor education and supervision, was elected as a member at large, publications, serving as the link among the journal editors, the AARC executive council and the publisher, Taylor & Francis.

Lundeen, who assumed her new AARC role on July 1, became acquainted with the association as a doctoral student. She was exposed to the world of research for the first time.

"I knew that crisis counseling was the route I wanted to go in, but I wanted to advance practices past what we were doing back then," she said. "We were told to go to conferences, with the AARC recommended due to its smaller size and approachability. I didn't know that it was also the research home to some of the best methodologists in counseling."

Lundeen has been part of AARC ever since, starting as the social media committee chair.

As a child, Lundeen could typically be found writing songs, poetry and stories. It was her method of emotion regulation and processing. "This has translated into my research, as I can now answer my own questions, critically examine my own thought processes through poetic inquiry and explore the process of help-seeking that often remains hidden from family, friends and in-person supports," she said.

Lundeen is a first-generation college student who believes in giving students every opportunity to broaden their knowledge about topics of interest. This guides her research, teaching and service opportunities. "I hope to show students that, regardless of their research background, if they are willing to learn and put themselves out there to ask for help, there are plenty of researchers and clinicians ready to help them succeed," she said. "Be curious, ask questions, then critically assess the answers you receive."

Lundeen co-created a lab with colleague Erin Popejoy at the U of A to help deepen students' knowledge and hands-on learning. The Violence, Crisis and Trauma Research Lab conducts research and disseminates knowledge about self-directed, inter/intrapersonal and systemic violence; school/community/campus crises; and trauma to school, university and community stakeholders.

"Our goal is to increase master's-level students' research experience and doctoral students' research mentorship experience," she said.

After the lab is more established, Lundeen and Popejoy plan to host "study staycations" where students can engage in active learning in the local community to broaden research, learning and service in the areas of violence, crisis and trauma; engage with the community's cultural needs; and provide advocacy and service to the local community.

"Similar to a study abroad, our goal is to increase cultural understanding," she said. "However, staycations increase students' access to opportunities and give back to our local community."

The lab recently hosted a "brainspotting" training to help students gain additional experience in trauma-informed treatment modalities at a reduced rate. In the future, she and Popejoy plan to host training sessions that benefit students and/or faculty across disciplines.

Lundeen specializes in self-directed violence harm reduction. She frequently publishes on the use of social media, such as Reddit, as a way of seeking emotional catharsis or non-carceral care for suicidality and other stigmatized topics. She is especially interested in adaptive gaming and how individuals use online gaming or other sources to cope with self-directed violence.

Lundeen is a licensed professional counselor, is a certified crisis specialist through the American Association of Suicidology, is Counseling Access to Lethal Means (CALM) certified through the Zero Suicide Institute and is a fellow in Thanatology: Death, Dying, Loss and Bereavement through the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC).

In her clinical practice, Lundeen specializes in college crisis counseling, nonsuicidal self-injury treatment and international student immigration trauma. "I am passionate about destigmatizing conversations about self-directed violence and humanizing help-seeking, which informed my clinical work and currently energizes my teaching and research," she said.

Lundeen's work has been featured in several open-access publications:

• Reddit as a Relational Ecosystem: Understanding Ambivalence, Anonymous Suicide Disclosures, and Peer Responses
• Cutting Through Stigma: Suggested Best Practices for a Harm Reduction Approach to Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
• Predicting Major Depression Among Diverse Online Gamers: The Role of Internet Addiction and Spirituality
• Digital Catharsis or Harmful Exposure? A Thematic Analysis of Self-Directed Violence Reddit Posts

In addition to her role at AARC, she also serves on the Leadership and Supervision Committee for the American College Counseling Association (ACCA).

She is also on the editorial review board for the Journal of Counseling and Development, the flagship journal of counseling, and Trauma Counseling and Resilience. She has served as an invited manuscript reviewer for journals outside of counseling, including SSM-Mental Health, Health Communication, Social Media + Society, Injury Epidemiology and BMC Psychiatry, as well as for conference proposals for the American Association of Suicidology.