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Biography

Dr. Waganesh Zeleke is an Associate Professor of Mental health Counseling in the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Zeleke is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Pennsylvania, Montana, Maryland, and Virginia, and she is a National Certified Counselor (NCC).

Dr. Zeleke's research focuses on the interplay between culture, context, and mental health across healthcare educational systems. She also focuses on the development and validation of intervention to alleviate the unmet mental health needs to improve the wellness outcomes of caregivers and individuals with autism from underserved and underrepresented populations. Current intervention work includes validating Caregiver Skills Training (an intervention developed by WHO), family wellbeing, mindful parenting, emotion regulation, and positive psychology for immigrant families and individuals with autism. Her research focuses on clinical issues, including mental health disorders (e.g., PTSD, depression, anxiety, attachment issues) and neurodevelopmentally diverse (e.g., autism spectrum disorder). She has published more than 35 articles and book chapters and disseminated over 65 professional conference presentations in the areas of autism, parenting, trauma, and immigrant mental health. Dr.Zeleke has been a principal investigator or co-investigator of various research grants in immigrant mental health, trauma intervention, autism, and social skills training grants.

As a practitioner, Dr. Zeleke provides counseling services in several mental health settings. Her clinical experience includes assessment, counseling, supervision, and consultation services in trauma-informed treatment, mindful practice, parenting, autism intervention, and culturally responsive mental health and wellness care.

Dr. Zeleke is also an Associate Editor for Frontiers special needs education and guest associate editor of public mental health for Frontiers in psychiatry, Frontiers in public health, and frontiers in sociology. She is a recipient of more than 18 awards, including a Fulbright Scholar (2022-2023), the Cultural Diversity Research Awarded by the International Society for Autism Research, a creative teaching award, and an early career faculty award for excellence in scholarship from Duquesne University.

Activities

Employment (2)

Virginia Commonwealth University: Richmond, Virginia, US

2022-08-10 to present | Associate Professor of Mental health Counseling (Rehabilitation Counseling )
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Waganesh Zeleke

Duquesne University: Pittsburgh, PA, US

2013-08-01 to 2022-07-01 | Associate Professor (Counseling, Psychology and Special Education )
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Waganesh Zeleke

Education and qualifications (1)

University of Montana: Missoula, MT, US

2008-08-21 to 2013-07-09 | PhD (Counseling)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Waganesh Zeleke

Works (4)

Adaptation of the Caregiver Skills Training program for Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant families of autistic children in the US

International Journal of Developmental Disabilities
2024-10-21 | Journal article
Contributors: Waganesh A. Zeleke; Sarah Dababnah; Pamela Dixon; Azeb Adere; Yodit Reinhold; Selam Hagos; Hailu Fejisso; Adam Tulu
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Crossref

“Hanging on by a Thread”: The Lived Experience of Parents of Children with Medical Complexity

Children
2024-10-18 | Journal article
Contributors: Courtney Holmes; Waganesh Zeleke; Shruti Sampath; Tiffany Kimbrough
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Crossref
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Preferred source (of 2)‎

Mental Health in Ethiopia: an Exploratory Study of Counseling Alignment with Culture

International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling
2019-06-03 | Journal article
Contributors: Waganesh A. Zeleke; Lindsey M. Nichols; Yemataw Wondie
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Parents’ Understanding of Adopted Children’s Ways of Being, Belonging, and Becoming

Journal of Child and Family Studies
2018-05-11 | Journal article
Contributors: Waganesh A. Zeleke; Lynne S. Koester; Gabriella Lock
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Crossref