Gwen Vogel Mitchell

Dr. Gwen Mitchell, PsyD, is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the International Disaster Psychology: Trauma & Global Mental Health program. With over two decades of experience in clinical psychology, she specializes in global mental health, trauma, and humanitarian aid. Dr. Mitchell spent more than 10 years working in post-conflict settings and refugee camps, providing direct services, consultation, and capacity-building for mental health systems in crisis-affected regions.

Her forensic expertise includes providing expert testimony in cases related to immigration, asylum, post-traumatic stress, child abuse, intergenerational trauma, and stress responses. She has consulted on mental health policy development, including playing a key role in shaping national mental health policies for Liberia, and has advised numerous NGOs on trauma-informed practices.

Dr. Mitchell has worked extensively with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, The Center for Victims of Torture, the United Nations, and Open Society Foundations. Her areas of focus include trauma counseling, child development, gender-based violence, and victim support services.

In addition to her clinical and policy work, Dr. Mitchell is an active researcher and author. Her publications and presentations cover topics such as post-traumatic stress in refugees and migrants, post-traumatic growth (PTG), counseling with African diasporic populations, the impact of war on civilians, therapeutic photography, moral distress in humanitarian aid workers, re-entry trauma, and group counseling with vulnerable populations in Myanmar.

At the University of Denver, Dr. Mitchell oversees both the clinical and academic components of the International Disaster Psychology program, ensuring that students receive rigorous, culturally responsive training in trauma and global mental health. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture (SSPC).