Mary Kathryn Gastinel

Contributing Faculty
College of Social and Behavioral Health
School of Counseling
M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Dr. Gastinel has over thirteen years of experience in mental health counseling, five of which have been with a primary focus in psychosocial oncology and working in a hospital setting. In 2007, she became a mental health counselor and patient navigator for university cancer center in New Orleans, LA and created their practicum and internship program for mental health counseling. On completion offer doctorate in 2010, I was hired as the Director of Psychosocial Oncology and Survivorship for a regional cancer center, overseeing these services for all five of its satellite centers across the state of Louisiana. In 2012, she took an innovative approach to opening a mental health outpatient practice which is designed to de-stigmatize mental health counseling. The infusion of art and aesthetic design fuels its mission to change the global conversation we are having about mental health, as well as personalize the journey that every individual finds themselves on during various life adversities. In 2016, she joined an oncology consulting firm as their psychosocial oncology consultant. Her role is to assist both national and international cancer centers with building evidenced based supportive care programs, which includes but is not limited to, patient navigation, distress screening, survivorship, and mental health psychosocial oncology care. In 2019, she joined the adjunct faculty staff at state university and began teaching various courses in their CACREP graduate counseling program, which has included remote online instruction.

Courses Taught

COUN 6360 - Assessment in Counseling

Education

BS, University of Alabama

MEd, University of New Orleans

PhD, University of New Orleans

Awards / Honors

Leukemia Lymphoma Society Research Grant Benefactor: Advanced Hodgkin’s Lymphoma , Leukemia Lymphoma Society, 2010

Patricia Trost-Friedler Center for Psychosocial Oncology Award Outstanding Commitment to Patient Care and Advocacy in the Fight Against Cancer , Tulane University Hospital and Clinic Cancer Center, 2010

Solaris Award, Family Roads of Greater Baton Rouge, 2017

Top 40 Under 40, Gambit New Orleans, 2014

Top People To Watch, 225 Magazine, 2014

Presentations

Gastinel, M. K. (2008). Dissertation Boot Camp and Other Innovative Approaches. Southern Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors

Gastinel, M. K. (2010). Implementation of a Distress Screening Program in a Hospital Based Cancer Center. American Psychosocial Oncology Society