Dr. Kristcha DeGuerre, Ph.D.

Speaker Information

Dr. Kristcha DeGuerre, Ph.D., LCSW, is the MSW Program Coordinator and an Assistant Professor at Galen University, where she provides academic leadership, teaches graduate-level social work courses, and mentors emerging mental health professionals. She also serves as Faculty Advisor to the Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA), the first student organization of its kind in Belize, dedicated to fostering a safe, inclusive campus environment and advancing education related to gender and sexual diversity.

Dr. DeGuerre’s research centers on mental health equity among marginalized populations in Belize. Her most recent mixed-methods study, Assessing Mental Health Service Needs and Barriers to Access for MSM, Transgender Individuals, Sex Workers, and Persons Living with HIV in Belize, examines systemic, sociocultural, and policy-level barriers to care and informs the development of trauma-informed, culturally affirming mental health practices and professional training.

In addition to her academic and research roles, Dr. DeGuerre is a licensed clinical social worker and trauma-informed mental health professional serving as the mental health counselor at Galen University. In this role, she provides individual counseling, crisis intervention, group support, and psychoeducation to students, faculty, and staff. Her clinical expertise includes trauma, gender-based violence, identity development, and resilience-building, and she integrates traditional therapeutic approaches with person-centered, creative, and arts-based modalities.

Previously, Dr. DeGuerre served as a mental health counselor with Belize’s Ministry of Human Development. She earned her Ph.D. from the University at Albany’s School of Social Welfare, where her trauma-informed, arts-based dissertation on gang-involved girls in Belize received the Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award.