Lee Eshelman

Lee Eshelman

Associate Professor of Psychology
Director of Master of Arts Program in Clinical Psychology

Lee Eshelman
Contact Info:
Campus: McNichols Campus
Building: Reno Hall
Room: 214
Phone: 313-578-0410
Lee Eshelman
Introduction to Psychology
Sex Differences and Sex Roles
Cultural Diversity
Trauma and Resilience

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Miami University
  • M.A., Miami University
  • B.A., Michigan State University

Biography

Lee R. Eshelman is a licensed clinical psychologist, associate professor in the Department of Psychology and director of the Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology program at University of Detroit Mercy. Prior to joining the faculty in 2019, she earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Miami University. She completed an APA-accredited clinical psychology internship at University of Wisconsin – Department of Psychiatry and a postdoctoral fellowship in Women’s Health with the University of Michigan Medicine/VA Ann Arbor Consortium.

Eshelman is the director of the Trauma, REsilience and Empowerment (TREE) Lab at University of Detroit Mercy. Her research program broadly focuses on the impact of trauma on coping, resilience and psychological outcomes including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use. She explores how individual, cultural and societal factors shape recovery from interpersonal trauma, with a particular emphasis on critically examining how sexual violence survivors from underrepresented and historically excluded populations are impacted by bias and discrimination.

A central goal of Eshelman’s work is to explore the complex mental health sequelae following traumatic experiences to inform strengths-based advocacy for survivors and refine culturally informed, evidence-based interventions. Her current projects investigate how Black women’s experiences of interpersonal trauma and racism-related stressors influence mental health outcomes, help-seeking behaviors, disclosure and resilience. Recently completed studies have examined how PTSD affects emotion regulation among survivors of sexual violence and how men’s experiences of sexual abuse influence mental health and perceptions of masculinity. She also maintains active research collaborations with investigators at other institutions in related areas (e.g., trauma among sexual minority women, interpersonal violence and suicidal behaviors, #metoo movement).

At University of Detroit Mercy, Eshelman teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. She is committed to providing strengths-based support to students with diverse interests and career goals.