Jeeyeon Hong is a doctoral student at The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Jeeyeon’s research is guided by her over three years experience working as a mental health therapist providing cross-cultural therapy to immigrants/refugees in community settings as well as individual and family therapy in an eating disorder residential clinic. Jeeyeon is a licensed social worker in Korea. Throughout her clinical experience, she has witnessed the need to develop and test culturally relevant mental health interventions to increase therapy engagement for racial/ethnic minority youth and families. Jeeyeon’s research interest are cultural adaptation of mental health interventions for racial/ethnic minority youth and families. Jeeyeon is specifically interested in cultural adaptation and testing of Solution Focused Brief Therapy with racial/ethnic minority youth.
Prior to entering PhD program, Jeeyeon worked as a research assistant at Casey Family Programs. She collaborated on a project aimed at tracking child welfare research funding trends by federal agencies and philanthropic foundations in 2014-2018, which was published in Children, Youth, and Services Review Journal.
Jeeyeon’s passion lies in advancing the effectiveness of research interventions on historically marginalized populations in mental health research. Her hope is to inform evidence-based practices that are culturally relevant, acknowledging the unique challenges and experiences faced by different communities. This approach not only considers cultural beliefs, practices, and social contexts but also addresses systemic inequities and injustices through the lens of critical race theory, ultimately aiming to promote health equity and social justice.
Currently, Jeeyeon is working with Dr. Cynthia Franklin on systematic review on cultural adaptation of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy in Korea. She is also involved in a scoping review project, examining outcomes of family intervention on trauma-affected refugee/immigrant youth with a focus on intergenerational impact. Jeeyeon earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare and Child and Family Studies from Seoul National University, and a Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Washington. She is the recipient of the Michael R. Daley Endowed Presidential Scholarship for Doctoral Students.