Directory Profile

Courtney Welton-Mitchell

Courtney Welton-Mitchell PhD, MA

Clinical Assistant Professor
  • Department of Environmental & Occupational Health
  • Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center

Email Address:courtney.welton-mitchell@cuanschutz.edu

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Dr. Courtney Welton-Mitchell is trained as a social psychologist and a mental health clinician specializing in traumatic stress. She is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health at the Colorado School of Public Health, where she directs the Certificate in Climate and Disaster Resilience. She is also a research associate with the Natural Hazards Center, Institute for Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder.  She is a former Fulbright Scholar and Scholar Ambassador. She co-founded the Humanitarian Assistance Applied Research Group at the University of Denver and was the Director from 2014-2018.

Her research focuses on health/public health interventions in disasters and complex humanitarian crises using mixed methods. Much of her research emphasizes mental health integrated approaches to climate and disaster adaptation, mitigation and preparedness. She has conducted studies on group-based mental health, gender-based violence, and disaster preparedness interventions, including public health messaging campaigns and social norms approaches to attitude and behavioral change.She is a founding member and co-chair of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's Public Health Working Group. Her current intervention research includes psychological preparedness for public school teachers, staff wellbeing initiatives for humanitarian aid workers, mental health integrated preparedness for climate change affected agricultural communities and communities impacts by disasters including wildfires, flooding, landslides and earthquakes.

Areas of Expertise

  • Intervention research in disasters and complex humanitarian crises (mental health, gender-based violence, climate adaptation and disaster preparedness)
  • Public health messaging campaigns and social norms approaches to attitude and behavioral change in disasters and complex humanitarian crises
  • Psychological and other factors influencing risk communication, perception, and behaviors during disasters and complex humanitarian crises


Education, Licensure & Certifications

  • PhD, Social Psychology, University of Denver, 2012 (Tool: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience)
  • MA, Affect/Social Psychology, University of Denver, 2009
  • MA, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, University of New Mexico, 1997
  • BFA, New School for Social Research/Parson’s School of Design, 1992

Awards

  • U.S. Fulbright Scholar Ambassador—U.S. Fulbright Commission (2020-2022)
  • U.S. Fulbright Research Scholar—Malaysian-American Commission on Education Exchange (2017–2018)
  • Outstanding Dissertation in Psychology, American Psychological Association—Div. 56 Trauma Psychology (2013)