Research

Current research projects at the Center for the Study of Religion and Psychology:

For information about my current research, please visit the Center for the Study of Religion and Psychology web site. There you can read about the following research projects:

• Clinical Outcomes Project (assessing outcomes of psychotherapy in the Danielsen Institute clinic)
• Compassion Project (studying techniques from various religious and spiritual traditions intended to increase compassion and friendliness)
• Parish Transitions Archive and Survey (studies for the effect on psychological and spiritual well-being of the recent large-scale reorganization of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
• Religious and Psychological Well-Being Project (multidisciplinary collaborative project that includes the Templeton Research Lectures)
• Religiousness & Spirituality Survey (what do lay people mean by "being a religious person" or "being a spiritual person")
• Sacred Moments: Social Anxiety in a Larger Perspective (group psychotherapy for Social Anxiety/Social Phobia based on looking for sacredness in one's daily life)
• Sacred Gifts: A Group Intervention for Elders (group psychotherapy for elders with depression based on looking for sacred in one's daily life)
• Wellness Project (wellness-promoting strategies for coping with end-of-semester stress)

• McCorkle, B. H., Rogers, E. S., Dunn, E. C., Lyass, A., & Wan, Y. M. (in press). Increasing social support for individuals with serious mental illness: Evaluating the Compeer model of intentional friendship. Community Mental Health Journal.
  
• McCorkle, B. H., Dunn, E. C., Wan, Y. M., & Gagne, C. (in press). Compeer Friends: A qualitative study of a volunteer friendship program for people with serious mental illness. International Journal of Social Psychiatry.
  
• McCorkle, B. H., Rogers, E. S., Dunn, E. C., Wan, Y. M., & Lyass, A. (2006). A mixed methods study of the benefits of Compeer services. In Skirboll, B. W., Bennett, L., & Klements, M. (Eds.), Compeer: Recovery through the healing power of friends. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
  
• Dunn, E. C., McCorkle, B. H., Wan, Y. M., & Gagne, C. (2006). The making of friendships: Compeers talk about their experiences in the program. In Skirboll, B. W., Bennett, L., & Klements, M. (Eds.), Compeer: Recovery through the healing power of friends. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
  

Click here for the local (BU) web site.

Click here for the multisite web site, maintained by the multisite Coordinating Center located at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health in St. Louis, MO.

Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP).  Secured a $150,000 CMHS Community Action Grant for the community of East Hartford to engage in a consensus-building process about whether to start a consumer-run program based on Mary Ellen Copeland’s WRAP model.  Helped the project secure additional funding of $200,000 per year from the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to develop and run a statewide network of WRAP training programs. The new consumer-operated network is called Focus on Recovery-United (FOR-U).

Click here for the CAG web site.

Click here for the FOR-U web site.

Research Methods

Research in the Psychology of Religion (STH TY997/998). Two-semester doctoral research seminar. Boston University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Counseling Psychology and Religion doctoral program. Open only to students in the CPAR program.

• 2007 Fall / 2008 Spring
• 2006 Fall / 2007 Spring
• 2005 Fall / 2006 Spring
• 2004 Fall / 2005 Spring
• 2003 Fall / 2004 Spring

Rehabilitation Research I (SAR RC708). Graduate research methods course for master’s and doctoral students in Rehabilitation Counseling. Boston University, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Dept. of Rehabilitation Counseling.

• 2002 Fall (redesigned course as “Rehabilitation Research and Program Evaluation”)
• 2000 Fall

Rehabilitation Research II (SAR RC805). Advanced research methods for doctoral students in Rehabilitation Counseling. Boston University, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Dept. of Rehabilitation Counseling.

• 2000 Spring (co-taught with E. Sally Rogers, Sc.D.)

• 2007 Spring (co-taught with Catherine Caldwell-Harris, PhD)

Religious and Psychological Well-Being (STH812/813). Graduate seminar with themes matching the annual Templeton Research Lectures of the Religious and Psychological Well-Being Project. Boston University, School of Theology. (Instructor)

• 2007 Fall / 2008 Spring: Psychology of Religious Experience

Directed Study in the Psychology of Religion (STH991). Individual directed studies, arranged as needed.

• various graduate students, arranged individually

• 2003 Spring
• 2002 Spring
• 2001 Spring
• 2000 Spring

Adult Psychopathology (SSW HB723). Co-taught seminar for social work master’s students. "Adult Psychopathology" with Gail Steketee, Ph.D. ( Co-Instructor)

• 2000 Summer

I was trained as a pastoral counselor in the 1980s, earned a PhD in clincial psychology from Boston Univeristy in the 1990s, and have been a mental health researcher and faculty member at Boston University since 1999. My approach to clinical work is very integrative, having trained in cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic therapy as well as clinical neuropsychology, and the specific approach taken with any particular client depends on what arises during the initial intake. Although there is a lot of "religion" in the names of the various departments in which I work, we are not a faith-based organization. Rather, we recognize that religious and spiritual and existential beliefs and pracices can be powerful forces in people's lives, both in positive and negative ways, and that it is better to be frank in talking about them than to pretend that they won't affect therapy.

Brian McCorkle, Ph.D., Director
Center for the Study of Religion & Psychology
The Albert & Jessie Danielsen Institute at Boston University
185 Bay State Rd.
Boston, MA 02215

Phone: (617) 358-2969
FAX: (617) 353-5539
email: mccorkle@bu.edu

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