Lillian Alexander

Lillian Alexander is a fifth-year PhD candidate whose research and clinical practice focuses on mental health, particularly the role of empathy in therapeutic relationships. Her research in this area began during her undergraduate studies, where she first explored the phenomenon of empathic distress and its influence on emotional functioning. This research sparked a longstanding interest in the complexities of empathy in helping professions, which continued to grow throughout her years of practice in community mental health settings. In these roles, she came to recognize the real and persistent challenges practitioners face in maintaining empathy amid high caseloads, limited resources, and organizational demands.

Lillian earned her MSW from Rutgers University and obtained her clinical social work license. She values the opportunity to remain actively engaged in clinical work while pursuing her PhD, and she currently operates a small private practice providing psychotherapy to individuals with a range of mental health concerns. Lillian also teaches in the Rutgers MSW program and has taught Clinical Social Work and Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis. 

Broadly, Lillian’s research interests center on building a deeper understanding of the development of empathy avoidance among mental health practitioners, including the personal, organizational, and systemic factors that contribute to this phenomenon. Her dissertation focuses on the development of a self-report measure to assess empathy avoidance in this population. Through this work, she hopes to contribute tools and insights that will inform efforts to support practitioner well-being and promote sustained empathic engagement in mental health care.