Sasha N. Flowers

Sasha N. Flowers

Sasha N. Flowers

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Clinical Psychology: addressing power imbalances within the therapeutic alliance, person-centered care, clinician self-disclosure of social identity, equity-informed implementation science, culturally responsive evidence-based practice

Sasha is a fourth-year Clinical Psychology Ph.D. student at George Mason University. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Psychology. Prior to joining GMU’s Clinical Psychology program, Sasha worked as a Spanish teacher with Teach for America. She then worked as an equine therapist serving children with autism and veterans. She also has prior experience researching mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety.

Currently, Sasha works in GMU's ACCESS lab with Dr. Amanda Sanchez. She researches power imbalances within the therapeutic alliance and facilitators to culturally responsive care. Generally, she is interested in Participatory Action Research and decolonizing research methodologies. More specifically, Sasha is interested in assessing client perceptions of the therapeutic alliance and clinician cultural responsiveness, developing culturally responsive therapeutic alliances, addressing power dynamics in treatment, broaching topics of social identity, and clinician self-disclosure.

Selected Publications

Flowers, S. N., Sanchez, A. L., Siddiqui, A., Weiss, M., & Becker-Haimes, E. M. (2025). Clinician-Reported Person-Centered Culturally Responsive Practices for Youth with OCD and Anxiety. Children, 12(8), 1034. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12081034

Flowers, S. N., Hofman, S.J., Kingsley, D. G., Siddiqui, A., & Sanchez A. L. (under review). Exposure and Response Prevention for pediatric OCD. In M. Hersen & W. Sledge (Eds.), Encyclopedia of psychotherapy: Child interventions and internalizing problems (2nd ed.). Elsevier.

Schaechter, T., Flowers, S., Weiss, M., Becker-Haimes E. M., & Sanchez A. L. (2025). Culturally adapted interventions for youth anxiety and trauma-related disorders in marginalized youth: A systematic review. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-025-01833-3 

Rudrabhatla, R., Flowers, S., Becker-Haimes E. M., & Sanchez A. L. (2024). Centering equity in the implementation of Exposure and Response Prevention for pediatric OCD: Current evidence and future directions. Journal of Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 11(2), 195-205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-024-00306-x 

Expanded Publication List

Flowers, S. N., Feeken, M., Weiss, M., Becker-Haimes E. M., & Sanchez A. L. (in preparation). Addressing power imbalance in the therapeutic alliance in youth CBT: A reflexive thematic analysis. 

Grants and Fellowships

NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-body Interactions, George Mason University, 2023-2024

Mentoring in Anti-racism and Inclusive Excellence (MARIE) Graduate Division, George Mason University, 2022-2023

Courses Taught

PSYC325: Psychopathology (Instructor of Record)

PSYC211: Lifespan Development (Instructor of Record)

PSYC300: Statistics in Psychology (Instructor of Record)

PSYC301: Research Methods in Psychology Lab

PSYC300: Statistics in Psychology Lab

Education

M.A. Psychology, George Mason University, 2023

B.A. Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, 2018

Recent Presentations

Oral Presentations

  1. Flowers, S. N., Sanchez A. L., & Becker-Haimes, E. M. (2025, April) Adaptations and Augmentations to Exposure-based CBT in a Community Clinic Serving Primarily Youth on Medicaid. Symposium presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) Annual Conference. Las Vegas, NV.
  2. Flowers, S. N., Fry, A., & Mehlenbeck, R. (2024, October) From Stress to Strength: Helping Your Teen Manage Anxiety. Community presentation given for ConnerStrong Foundation (Virtual). https://connerstrongfoundation.org/partners/

Poster Presentations

  1. Flowers, S.N., Feeken, M., Weiss, M., Becker-Haimes E. M., & Sanchez A. L. (2024, November) Addressing Power Imbalance in the Therapeutic Alliance in Youth CBT Treatment: A Thematic Analysis. Poster presented at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Conference (ABCT), Philadelphia, PA. 
  2. Flowers, S.N., Feeken, M., Weiss, M., Becker-Haimes E. M., & Sanchez A. L. (2024, March) Addressing Power Imbalance in the Therapeutic Alliance. Poster presented at the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference, Fairfax, VA. 
  3. Schaechter, T., Flowers, S.N., Weiss, M., Becker-Haimes E. M., & Sanchez A. L. (2024, November). Culturally Adapted Interventions for Youth Anxiety and Related Disorders: A Systematic Review. Poster presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Conference (ADAA), Boston, MA.
  4. Flowers, S.N. & Sanchez, A. (2023, May) Developing Culturally Responsive Therapeutic Relationship in Evidence Based Treatment. Poster presented at American Psychological Association Conference, Washington D.C.
  5. Flowers, S.N., Becker-Haimes E. M., & Sanchez, A. (2023, May) Adaptations and Augmentations for Community-based Delivery of EBTs for Anxiety. Poster presented at American Psychological Association (APA) Conference, Washington D.C.