Mission and Goals

Our mission is to promote student mental health and academic functioning within school settings and beyond. Our intention is to promote subjective well-being while reducing psychopathology through a dual-factor perspective. We aim to understand students’ perception of school climate and sense of belongingness at school and to identify effective means of improving school climate and safety. Of particular interest is the developmental and ecological shifts that occur in the transition from late childhood (elementary school) to early adolescence (middle school).  We are committed to utilizing empirically validated and culturally-responsive universal screening tools and school-based mental health interventions that align within a multitiered system of support (i.e., response to intervention).

A further mission of the SWELL Lab is not only to promote positive student outcomes in K12 settings, but also to provide high-quality, individualized training experiences for doctoral graduate students and undergraduate students. Students will hone their individual research interests and develop a program of theoretically grounded and practically meaningful research. Students are involved in all aspects of the research process, from conceptualizing a study to disseminating findings via peer-reviewed conference presentations and publications. Graduate students will engage in peer mentorship and collaborative research experiences with Dr. Clark and other faculty. Lab members should expect to set and achieve ambitious, personally challenging goals during their time at LSU throughout their careers as school psychologists.