Thomas Deakin

Thomas Deakin is currently a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at George Mason University. He completed his bachelor's degree at Middlebury College, majoring in neuroscience and completing the pre-medical track. Prior to his clinical psychology journey, Thomas spent time exploring a career in medicine, completing various research pursuits in the field and attending medical school for two years. Thomas eventually understood that his clinical and research interests aligned more with a career in clinical psychology, and he plans to use his understanding of physical and mental health to provide compassionate, integrative, and effective care to those with medical conditions.

Brazilian born and raised and a multicultural citizen of the world who speaks both Portuguese and Spanish, Thomas also co-created a stepped-care program that expands behavioral health services to Spanish speakers in Virginia via an emotional support line and brief therapeutic interventions. He hopes to continue to provide services to immigrant populations and in doing so increase accessibility to mental health services while also decreasing the stigma surrounding mental illness. 

Outside of school, Thomas is an avid fan of sports such as soccer and tennis. He believes in the importance of sports for promoting individual health and fostering one's ability to positively impact others, and his current research focuses on how cognitive predictors such as exercise motivation impact satisfaction with exercise and overall distress symptoms.