Lavangi Naithani is a third-year doctoral student in the School/Clinical Child Psychology program at the University of Texas at Austin. She has an educational background in psychology and mental health with over five years of professional experience in India.
Before starting her doctoral studies, Lavangi worked as a school counselor and later as a senior intervention coordinator at Sangath, a public mental health research NGO in India. A key part of her work was on an effectiveness randomized controlled clinical trial, where she trained and supervised teams of community health workers to deliver an evidence-based intervention for families of children with autism. In addition, Lavangi was an Implementation Science Research Fellow on the Suicide Prevention and Implementation Research (SPIRIT) project. In this role, her research was focused on a school-based suicide prevention program for adolescents in a rural area of Gujarat, India.
Lavangi’s research and clinical interests focus on improving youth mental health services by increasing access to high-quality, evidence-based transdiagnostic interventions—approaches that target underlying processes common across multiple mental health conditions—particularly in low-resource communities.
​

​

Education

​​PhD (anticipated) - School/Clinical Child Psychology program at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, 2029

Implementation Science Research Fellow - Suicide Prevention Implementation Research Initiative (SPIRIT), Center for Mental Health Law and Policy, India,  2020

Advanced Diploma - Child Guidance and Counseling, National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, India, 2017

MA - Applied Clinical Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, India, 2016
BA - (Honors) Psychology, University of Delhi, India, 2014

​

Licensure and Certifications

Registered Rehabilitation Counselor (A59087) by The Rehabilitation Council of India. Expires 2028.

​
Affiliations

​Student Member, Association of Behavior and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)
Student Member, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
Student Member, Society of Child Clinical and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP), Division 53
Student Member, American Psychological Association (APA)

​​​