Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Justin Rasmussen is a sixth-year clinical psychology PhD candidate working with Dr. Eve Puffer, and a von der Heyden Fellow. His primary interests center on improving access to mental health care in East Africa through professional training and existing community structures. Justin is especially interested in understanding the influence of cultural and social context on mental health promotion and intervention. His dissertation explores the integration of lay counselors into family support networks in a community-delivered family counseling intervention in Eldoret, Kenya.
During the spring semester of 2025, Rasmussen spoke at the John Hope Franklin Center’s ‘Wednesdays at the Center’ series with his lecture "We continue talking, when I need counseling she comes": The relational context of community mental health worker support in Eldoret, Kenya'. In this talk, Rasmussen shared findings from his dissertation research on how this "lay counselor" role fits into existing networks of family social support in one such community mental health intervention in Western Kenya. The event was sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Center and von der Heyden Fellowship Program.
Website: https://jhfc.duke.edu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/duke-university-john-hope-franklin-center
Instagram: instagram.com/jhfc_duke
Facebook: facebook.com/jhfcduke
X (Twitter): twitter.com/jhfcduke
Justin Rasmussen is a sixth-year clinical psychology PhD candidate working with Dr. Eve Puffer, and a von der Heyden Fellow. His primary interests center on improving access to mental health care in East Africa through professional training and existing community structures. Justin is especially interested in understanding the influence of cultural and social context on mental health promotion and intervention. His dissertation explores the integration of lay counselors into family support networks in a community-delivered family counseling intervention in Eldoret, Kenya.
During the spring semester of 2025, Rasmussen spoke at the John Hope Franklin Center’s ‘Wednesdays at the Center’ series with his lecture "We continue talking, when I need counseling she comes": The relational context of community mental health worker support in Eldoret, Kenya'. In this talk, Rasmussen shared findings from his dissertation research on how this "lay counselor" role fits into existing networks of family social support in one such community mental health intervention in Western Kenya. The event was sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Center and von der Heyden Fellowship Program.
Website: https://jhfc.duke.edu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/duke-university-john-hope-franklin-center
Instagram: instagram.com/jhfc_duke
Facebook: facebook.com/jhfcduke
X (Twitter): twitter.com/jhfcduke
