Biography
Dr. Sovereign specializes in working with women, young adults, LGBTQ populations, nontraditional families, and developing clinicians. She also specializes in dealing with grief, relationship issues, and sexual abuse.
Areas of Expertise (11)
Personal Values
Healthy Sexuality
Counselor Development
Group Therapy
Qualitative Meta-Analysis
Qualitative Methods
Consensual Qualitative Research Methodology
Existential Approaches to Psychotherapy
Clinical Supervision
Gender Issues
Social Justice
Education (1)
University of St. Thomas: Psy.D., Counseling Psychology
Affiliations (9)
- Mentor, American Psychological Association of Graduate Students LGBT+ Graduate Student Mentoring Program, 2017-present
- Member, Minnesota Psychological Association (MPA) Diversity Committee, 2017-present
- Accreditation Site Visitor, Accreditation for Doctoral Programs in Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2016-present
- Member, Institutional Review Board, SMUMN School of Graduate and Professional Programs, 2016-present
- Faculty Liaison, PsyD Program Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity Awareness (ASGDA), 2015-present
- Member, LGBTQ+ Therapists Network, 2013-present
- Item Writer, Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), Research Domain, Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, (ASPPB), 2012-present
- Member, Minnesota Psychological Association, 2010-present
- Member, Minnesota Women in Psychology, 2010-present
Links (1)
Recent Event Appearances (5)
Building a bridge to the professional world: Mentorship in the academic curriculum
Seventh International Symposium on Lasallian Research Minneapolis, MN - 2018
Gatekeeping aspirations, ambiguities, and angst: Graduate program practices and policies
American Psychological Association Annual Convention San Francisco, CA - 2018
Gatekeeper duty and doubt: Addressing problems of professional competence
American Psychological Association Annual Convention Denver, CO - 2016
One innovative model for formal mentorships in a Psy.D. curriculum: The mentoring program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
National Council of Schools and Programs in Professional Psychology (NCSPP) Annual Conference Atlanta, GA - 2016
The Minnesota counselor development and master therapist research studies: Findings from 1985 to 2015
Minnesota Psychological Association’s Annual Convention Plymouth, MN - 2015
Recent Articles (1)
Nine Ethical Values of Master Therapists
Journal of Mental Health Counseling: January 2005
Len Jennings, Ashley Sovereign, Nancy Bottorff, Melissa Pederson Mussell, and Christopher Vye
2005 This study employed the Consensual Qualitative Research method (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997) to reanalyze interview data from a previous qualitative study of the personal characteristics of master therapists (Jennings & Skovholt, 1999). Previous research has demonstrated that therapists utilize a variety of resources when making ethical decisions, including professional codes of conduct and their own values. The current study's analysis of 10 master therapists' interviews resulted in the identification of nine ethical values related to their clinical practice: (a) relational connection, (b) autonomy, (c) beneficence, (d) nonmaleficence, (e) competence, (f) humility, (g) professional growth, (h) openness to complexity and ambiguity, and (i) self-awareness. Conducting oneself ethically is a critical task of the competent therapist (American Psychological Association, 2002). Making the best ethical decisions can be extremely challenging for most therapists due to the multitude of complex ethical situations that arise in practice. The goal of this study is to examine the ethical values of therapists considered to be "the best of the best" by their professional colleagues. It is hoped that such an examination will help to illuminate the ethical values that these master therapists seem to draw upon in their work.
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