When Katie Hurley ’24 started working with men who are homeless as part of a research project, she wondered, “What can a mere undergraduate do? A lot of people think we are just kids.”
She spent three years as a researcher, student leader and volunteer with the Behavioral Activation Project, a long-term collaboration between psychology professor Roger Reeb and the staff and residents of St. Vincent de Paul Dayton. In that time, Hurley learned what “just kids” can accomplish — and how much she could learn from the homeless or formerly incarcerated men who are often cast aside by society.
“The guys love it when we come,” she said. “It really uplifts their spirits to be able to talk to us for a couple of hours about their lives and to talk about what they want to talk about.”
Reeb mentored Hurley and other students as they deepened their connections in the Dayton community. This giving back allows the students to understand how their academics inform their actions and how they can — now and after graduation — contribute to the common good.
Skills to succeed
Hurley’s rapport with men at the St. Vincent de Paul Gateway Men’s Shelter laid the groundwork for a significant research project that has helped people recently released from prison connect with services offered by Montgomery County to help them reenter the community. With the guidance of her mentor and professor, Hurley developed a 25-minute presentation explaining the opportunities offered by the Montgomery County Reentry Career Alliance Academy to help them build skills and succeed.
Men attending the session showed a significant increase in self-confidence and a heightened level of comfort regarding the reentry process, according to her research. “But here’s my favorite statistic: 16 of the 20 men who attended said they would sign up for the program,” Hurley said.
“16 of the 20 men who attended said they would sign up for the program.”
Many of the attendees had never heard of the Career Alliance Academy; others felt reluctant to ask for help. “What I love about the program is that it is holistic,” she said. “There is a lot more to reentry than just finding a job. There are issues of health, education, finances, parenthood and transportation.”
More than 400 undergraduate service-learning students and more than 20 graduate students in clinical psychology have participated in the Behavioral Activation Project, co-founded by Reeb in 2012. The project is based on the psychological concept that a program or experience can improve a person’s thoughts, mood and behavior, and help them to recognize and pursue opportunities in the future.
“Students involved with the project gain a lot of self-confidence in their ability to make a difference in their community,” Reeb said. “They come away with an increased awareness of their own privilege, and less stigmatized attitudes toward people who are homeless. After working with the residents, they realize they really aren’t different from anyone else, that they have hidden talents and dreams.”
Authentic connections
Hurley and her peers don’t see themselves as sage college students; instead, they are all sharing life experiences.
“We can learn from them just as they learn from us,” she said.
Among those lessons: Coming out of homelessness and reentering society after incarceration are not simple.
“Subconsciously I used to think that people just weren’t trying very hard,” she said. “But after getting to know these men I realize the majority want the same things we all want, to have a house and to help their families.”
Hurley, who graduated from UD in May with a bachelor’s in psychology, is starting her new job as a case manager at a correctional care center in Cincinnati with extensive practical knowledge of the barriers to reentry faced by former inmates. But perhaps the most profound changes have been the intangible ones. Hurley joined the Behavioral Activation Project intending to develop her senior thesis project and advance her career.
“After spending so much time with the guys, I realized that research is important, but I came away with an overarching better goal,” said Hurley, who minored in criminal justice. “My reason for staying changed. I wanted to help these men in their specific situations. How could I make their lives better, one step at a time?”
Ways that heal
That combination of practicality and empathy has made Hurley and her peers assets to community partners such as the Montgomery County Office of Reentry, whose manager, Jamie Gee, said Hurley’s informational presentation could serve as a useful tool for years to come.
For example, it’s helpful to facilitate an experience in an environment where individuals feel safe. Then, when the men receive their bus passes to visit the county’s reentry center — a place unfamiliar to them — they can walk in with a higher level of comfort.
“[Hurley] already has established a rapport with the men, and she has the information and knowledge that alleviates the anxiety that comes from something new,” Gee said.
To prepare for her presentation, Hurley attended many of the Career Academy’s 29 workshops, which include sessions on résumé writing, mock interviews and network building. Throughout the four-week course, Hurley said she witnessed a transformation in the attendees.
“At the first session, many didn’t want to be there,” she said. “But at the graduation ceremony at the end, they were all so excited, as they were all dressed up and receiving letters of recommendation and proclamations. It was heartwarming.
“In a way, redemption is a two-part process: You need to want to be redeemed, but you also need someone who is willing to help you. With this program, you will get the help that you need.”
And the academy gets results. In a county with a 37% recidivism rate within three years of release from prison, the rate for academy graduates is 9%.
“Katie is packaging a call to action to improve their quality of life,” Gee said. “Our academy provides hope and a healthy learning environment for those who want to achieve their goals.”
The students in the Behavioral Activation Project are living up to UD’s mission, Gee said: “They are investing in the common good in the very community where they are getting their education. It has taken our clients by surprise that these young students have the desire to connect in a way that heals.”
Mike Webb, guest relations manager for the St. Vincent de Paul Gateway Men’s Shelter, said they will continue to use Hurley’s presentation. Her research project, he said, serves as a microcosm for the benefits of the Behavioral Activation Project.
“The mood is noticeably brighter among the residents when UD is in the building,” said Webb, noting that the students’ involvement helps to build confidence and enhance life skills. “The guests love it when the UD students come. They are very outgoing with our guests, and they are very well-educated — about what to look for and how to dig deeper to work with our guests.”
Too many people, Webb noted, want to support the homeless from a distance.
“Dr. Reeb believes that students should come down to the front lines and experience this,” he said. “It changes you forever.”
As students engage with the residents and develop a rapport, Webb said the men often ask, “When are they coming back?”
“Katie is a great example of the way Dr. Reeb picks the right people and brings the folks here who have empathy and make a difference,” Webb said. “We are like a family here.”
Published research by Reeb and his colleagues and students documents improvement to residents’ sense of hope, self-sufficiency and purpose in life, as well as the social climate and relationships with staff at the shelter. Their work is supported by the Marianist Foundation for its alignment with the Marianist goal of educating students to support and empower disenfranchised and vulnerable populations.
In the face of tragedy
From an early age, Hurley exhibited the compassion that would lead her to her future career, according to her parents, Janice and Chris Hurley of Cincinnati.
“If someone was picking on someone else, she always would come to their defense,” her father recalled. “When her friend in grade school had to go to the office for her diabetes shots, Katie would go with her to make sure she was comfortable.”
That gentle nature was paired early on with a fascination with crime scene investigation shows she watched with her dad. “She was fascinated with the forensic part of psychology and why the brain functions like it does,” her mother said.
UD proved the perfect fit for their daughter because of its nurturing atmosphere.
“Dr. Reeb took Katie under his wing,” her father said.
“He is so passionate about what he does that it spills over. His enthusiasm is contagious.”
Never was that approach more appreciated than when Hurley lost several family members — her maternal aunt, her uncle and a cousin — in a car crash during her junior year. Only months later, her grandfather died. A week after the tragic accident, Hurley was scheduled to begin data collection for her research project. Reeb told her, “Your research is important, but not as important as taking time for yourself and being with your family.”
“He was right,” she recalled. “You can’t help other people if you’re not in a good mindset.”
While the Hurley family is still working through their grief, Katie Hurley is determined to pursue an advanced degree in clinical psychology and dedicate her life to helping others. She wistfully remembers her late aunt’s enthusiasm for Hurley’s research project. Hurley said she wishes she could share the results with her aunt. “We have a very strong family, and that’s one of the reasons I do what I do, because of that foundation,” Hurley said.
Shaping the future
Now Hurley finds herself in the position of mentoring fellow students. She leads sessions at the shelter and trains students about topics as practical as searching for birth certificates or as sensitive as finding the right approach in talking with shelter residents.
“My first day at the shelter, I was terrified,” Hurley recalled. “I didn’t know how to speak to the men, and it took a while to learn. I figured out that the guys respond best when I am being myself, when I am talking with them the way I would talk to anyone else. That’s a lesson I will take with me in my future career.”
As part of the “COVID class” who graduated from high school in 2020, Hurley and friend Anna Kopsick ’24 joined the Behavioral Activation Project, eager to venture off campus.
“I liked the idea of getting real-world experience and creating a long-term relationship with the shelter,” recalled Kopsick, who earned degrees in psychology and theater.
One activity was a “playback theater,” in which residents recounted true stories about their lives. Actors then reenacted the often heart-wrenching stories.
Reeb encouraged Kopsick to pursue the unconventional double major.
“He was very creative about it; he saw the synthesis between the two majors,” Kopsick said. “As a mentor he is really good at pinpointing areas of growth, really good at celebrating successes and really good at redirecting when needed.”
When music therapy major Cara Clark ’26 brought her guitar into Reeb’s class one day, he invited her to join the project as part of the “awe” team — a new field of psychology focusing on the healing power of introducing patients to the wonders of life, nature and the arts.
“Bringing music into this space is another way to connect with people,” Clark said. “The atmosphere can be very heavy, and bringing music to that space can lift people up.”
Her shelter experiences will stay with her during her career in music therapy and into the work she’ll do with people who have suffered childhood trauma.
“Some students are quite shy in the beginning because this is the first time we have put what we have learned to practice in real life,” Clark said. “Katie would take charge of the session, and she was very helpful and understanding and worked with us if we had questions.”
As a mentor to fellow students, Hurley was inspired by her own work with Reeb, whom she met while taking an abnormal psychology class as a sophomore.
Stepping into a leadership role was pretty scary at first, Hurley acknowledged.
“I think the biggest thing I learned from Dr. Reeb about being a mentor is how to balance teaching and stepping back. He was always great at being my support and having my back, while also being willing to throw me in. He gave me the opportunity to try, fail and learn on my own while also supporting me through the process. I tried to do the same with the students at the shelter.”
Teaching the whole person
Over the years, the Behavioral Activation Project has served as an infrastructure for individual research projects by undergraduate and graduate students. Hurley marveled at Reeb’s creative approach to assisting students with their research.
“When I told him I wanted to work with the incarcerated population for my honors thesis, at first he didn’t think our research interests would vibe,” she said. “But the next day he came back full of ideas about how to
do it.”
Instead of summarizing the research of other scholars, as Hurley had proposed, Reeb countered that it would be preferable to conduct her own research in her chosen field of clinical forensic psychology.
“He was thinking 10 miles ahead of me, asking the question, ‘What is going to look better to a graduate program officer?’” she recalled. “Dr. Reeb is someone I can always go to with any questions about schooling or research. He is really good at propelling you forward.”
Hurley’s graduation leaves a void in the program, Reeb said, noting she performed tasks as diverse as conducting background checks, leading ethics training sessions, running meetings and assisting with tours. Her academic, research and service work earned her the Rev. Raymond A. Roesch Award of Excellence to the Outstanding Student in
Psychology.
“She is such a great example of how this project is intended to work, fitting in with our mission of teaching the whole person,” Reeb said. “The research shows that students learn academic concepts best when they’re involved with community service. My goal is for the positive effect on the student to be lifelong, in terms of how they choose their vocations and how they engage with community.”
Reeb often continues his research collaborations after graduation. He and Hurley are working together on a scholarly article based on Hurley’s research findings.
“Staying involved with them allows me to know whether the project is working as intended,” Reeb observed. “A lot of students have told me that the experience influenced their vocation.”
That is true for Hurley, who evolved to view the shelter residents not as problems to be solved but as human beings with their own complex histories. She held deep conversations with a resident her own age who also was pursuing a college degree; she looked forward to talking with another resident about a daughter he dearly loved. “I learned not to go into conversations with certain beliefs or expectations,” she recalled, “but to recognize that everyone has their own story about how they got to where they are.”
And with the help of her reentry project, they have even more options for the path ahead.