Consulting
Finding a healthy and effective Relationship between mental health and sociopolitics
Consultation Topics
Political Stress workshop
Political stress has a major impacts on people’s lives, affecting their ability to engage in work, leisure, and relationships. My consultations on political stress provide research-supported strategies to find a better relationship with their social and political worlds. In the consultation, we explore value-oriented approaches to action, self-care, agency, and information intake.
Activist Mental health
Activists and advocates devote their time and energy to making the world a better place. Unfortunately, a life in service to others can sometimes lead to feelings of burnout, anxiety, and depression. My consultations focus on how to find a balance between self-compassion and activism, while reinforcing a sense of agency in one’s beliefs.
Treating Political Stress
We mental health workers are trained to help our clients in a variety of domains, but we rarely learn how to help people interact with their sociopolitical environments in ways that are healthy and empowering. My clinician consultations focus on tools for assessing and treating clients’ relationships with sociopolitical stressors.
Upcoming Events
Webinar: Political Stress: How to Improve your Mental Health and your Community - 5/9/25 12-2 PM EST
$25 registration; available to the public
Open for community members struggling with political stress, this live webinar will explore research-supported interventions to help reduce feelings of political stress through community intervention. Goals of the webinar include finding a balance of news intake, finding community action that feels safe and meaningful, and building a sense of political agency and efficacy.
Recent Events
Treating Political Stress: Research and Clinical Interventions
Presented to the Utah Psychological Association
Treating Political Stress: Research-Supported Strategies for Activism
Presented to the District of Columbia Psychological Association
Supporting Activist Mental Health
Presented to the American University Counseling Center
Research
My research is in the field of critical consciousness, focused on how advocacy and activism relate to mental health. I provide consultation to clinicians, groups, and organizations regarding supporting advocate mental health, preventing burnout, and supporting a sense of agency in relation to society. My goal in consultation is to help people find strategies by which they can feel a sense of agency in engaging with political matters.
Publications
McWhirter, E. H., Ortega, R. I., Rojas-Araúz, B. O., Combs, D., Cendejas, C., & McWhirter, B. T. (2019). ALAS: An Intervention to Promote Career Development Among Latina/o Immigrant High School Students: Journal of Career Development. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845319828543
McWhirter, E. H., Cendejas, C., Fleming, M., Martinez, S., Mather, N., Garcia, Y., Romero, L., Ortega, R. I., & Rojas-Araúz, B. O. (2021). College and career ready and critically conscious: Asset-building with Latinx immigrant youth. Journal of Career Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072720987986
Dissertation
Ortega, R. I. (2021) ¡Votemos! A Social Cognitive Lens to Young Latinx Voter Turnout. University of Oregon