Dr. Christine Hatchard, a specialist professor of Clinical Psychology has been awarded a prestigious psychologist scholarship, the National Early Career Psychologist (ECP) Scholarship Award from the National register of Health Services in recognition of her commitment of professional excellence.
“I really like what I do, so winning awards really isn’t that important to me but it’s still nice to be recognized for the work I have done in the field,” said Hatchard. “I am proud of the work I do and anytime I can get any sort of recognition helps get some attention for the more important work that I do.”
According to the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, the ECP Scholarship was developed at the same time as the creation of the American Psychological Association (APA) Committee on Early Career Psychologists, in order to help early career psychologists become credentialed as Health Service Providers in Psychology though covering the costs of credential review and registration fees.
Hatchard applied for the award while applying for a national credential as a psychologist.
“I was thinking about applying for national credential and you could submit your CV and an essay about your accomplishments in the field as an early career psychologist,” said Hatchard.
Janice Stapley, Chair of the Department of Psychology, described Hatchard as a prominent member in the psychology department. “She is an alumnus of whom we are very proud. She is also a faculty member, but from the view of the chair, I can say a very sought after faculty member despite having a reputation for being rigorous and expecting a lot from her students. Her SIRs are the highest in the department,” said Stapley.
Hatchard founded in 1999 and runs an organization known as Making Daughters Safe Again, which offers support services for women who had been sexually abused by their mothers in childhood. Hatchard also has her own private practice where she works with people dealing with trauma and sexual abuse.
“In 1999, I founded the organization, Making Daughters Safe Again, which specializes in mother-daughter sexual abuse, a form of sexual abuse which is not commonly known. Over the past 12 years, I have maintained the design and content of the MDSA website, provided professional presentations and worked with hundreds of survivors of mother-daughter sexual abuse, both online and in person. In 2011, I was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Unsung Hero award by Monmouth University for my work on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse,” said Hatchard.
Hatchard first became interested in the topic of sexual abuse and later creating an organization in 1999 while she was still a student at the University. She had taken a course her junior year with Dr. Alan Cavaiola, whom she still considers an influence in her work, and read a definition of sexual abuse that she had never before considered.
“It went beyond sexual abuse having to do with male on female abuse and penetration or how you normally would think about how sexual abuse normally happens. So I started to search for more information about this topic because it was the first time I thought about how females could be perpetrators of sexual abuse as well,” Hatchard said.
Hatchard has since given many lectures regarding mother daughter sexual abuse and has begun to expand her organization to further parts of the world. Her current projects include a self-made and produced documentary on mother daughter sexual abuse and an upcoming book containing survivor stories and a review of researched.
