Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling

Dara Chan, Sc.D., CRC, is leading research on multiple grants focused on improving community participation for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). As a NIDILRR Switzer Research Fellow, she used Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping to understand meaningful participation and service use of autistic adults and is now building on these methods in a multi-PI NIMH R21 examining community participation, social connections, and suicide risk in older autistic and non-autistic adults. Chan is also co-leading the UNC Higher Education, Employment, and Living Success (HEELS) 2 Transition program, an interdisciplinary collaborative funded by Oak Foundation which provides year-round, on-campus programming for individuals with IDD focused on developing critical skills for the transition to adulthood. In partnership with FPG, Chan is Co-PI on a related NIDILRR development project, “HEELS 2 Participation,” converting existing in-person HEELS programming into e-learning modules to increase accessibility and dissemination.

As a postdoctoral fellow with UNC’s Suicide Prevention Institute, I provide clinical services across a range of settings, including emergency psychiatry, inpatient crisis care, telepsychiatry, and primary care settings. My work emphasizes evidence-based interventions, collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, and support for both patients and providers. In addition to direct clinical work, I serve as a supervisor for psychology PhD practicum students and interns, as well as master’s-level clinicians, supporting their training and professional development. Through these efforts, I contribute to the Institute’s mission of advancing suicide prevention and expanding access to high-quality care across North Carolina.

I teach two core courses: Medical Aspects of Disabilities and Foundations of Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling. In addition, I serve as mentor and program advisor to 10–12 graduate students, guiding their independent research as well. I am the director of an RSA training grant that supports the education of several graduate students in our program. Alongside my academic role, I also work as a rehabilitation counselor in the Acute Inpatient Unit at UNC Hospitals, Hillsborough campus.

My research focuses on factors influencing chronic disease management, treatment adherence, and transition readiness in adolescents with diabetes. I aim to support children and adolescents in developing the skills and confidence to manage their condition and live comfortably with a chronic health issue. In collaboration with the UNC Pediatric Diabetes Program, I recently completed a study examining how household chore participation impacts disease management and transition readiness in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

When I began teaching at UNC, I brought more than 26 years of experience as a rehabilitation counselor, administrator, advocate, and educator. My work in psychiatric rehabilitation has allowed me to explore an unusually wide range of research and clinical practice topics within mental health care, vocational rehabilitation, and education, which I use in my teaching and clinical training with students.
Since 2015, I have been involved with establishing Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) opportunities for our students and faculty at UNC. The Department of Health Sciences has dedicated time and resources to build and sustain our IPEP activities within the department as well as being a founding member of the UNC CH Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice. As the Director of IPEP for our department, I work with the Office of IPEP to build partnerships across campus that offer interdisciplinary training to our CRMH students as well as all students in the department.

Joseph Sircar is a clinical psychology fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. His research is focused on expanding mental healthcare access, including through community-delivered models of care and digital mental health. Clinically, he provides psychological testing and intervention through clinics within the Department of Psychiatry, including the Taking Care of Our Own program.