Master Class: Understanding the Post-Traumatic Growth and Resilience of LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers
Dr. Bagmi Das
Dr. Bagmi Das
Program Co-Director, Clinical Mental Health Counseling; Associate Professor, Counseling and Human Development
School: Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Department: Counseling and Human Development
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Dr. Bagmi Das
Dr. Bagmi Das is an Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Development at the George Washington University. Her expertise is in the fields of trauma intervention, family therapy, and multicultural and social justice development in counselors in training (CITs). Specifically, her research agenda focuses on psychosocial adjustment, trauma, and resilience in immigrant and refugee populations. Trained in marriage and family therapy, Dr. Das brings a systems lens to all research, with a particular interest in building community healing and resilience through the research itself. Currently, Dr. Das is working with doctoral students and community members to build the research base around support for new immigrants and refugees in the DC Metro area. Simultaneously, Dr. Das is working to build curriculum and texts to support counselors intending to work with these populations.
Dr. Das is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California and Virginia. She has counseled adolescents and families in various contexts including in-home therapy, group homes/residential treatment centers, community mental health centers, high schools, career centers, and post-secondary institutions. She currently works with adults, couples, and families via telehealth. Her breadth of experience within different systems and in working with diverse clients and families informs her research agenda.
Ph.D. in Counselor Education, The Pennsylvania State University
M.S. in Counseling with a concentration in marriage and family therapy, San Diego State University
B.S. in Psychology and English, Carnegie Mellon University
- Sexual Violence Trauma
- AAPI Communities, Immigrants & Refugees
- Marriage and Family Therapy
- Trauma in Children and Families
- October 2025 - Dr. Bagmi Das participated in the American Counseling Association's Hill Day. Dr. Das and others advocated in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for extensions of telehealth, parity in insurance, and increased/stabilization of funding for counseling graduate students to assure a pipeline of mental health workers.
- July 2024 - Drs. Mina Attia and Bagmi Das presented two sessions at the International Association of Counseling's conference in Naples, Italy. The presentations were entitled, "Post-Traumatic Growth and Resilience of LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers in the United States" and "Navigating Identity and Mental Health on Instagram: Edu-fluencers in the AAPI Community." This conference travel was partially funded by the Dr. Mary Futrell Travel Award and the Provost's Special Relief Grants.
- March 2024 - Drs. Bagmi Das and Maggie Parker, along with GSEHD alumna Sarah Litt (master's, Clinical Mental Health Counseling), published an article entitled, "Relationships of Empathy and Color-blind Attitudes on Counseling Students’ Critical Consciousness," in Teaching and Supervision of Counseling.
- July 25, 2023 - Dr. Das presented a paper presentation, "Support Seeking for South Asian American Survivors: A Phenomenology," co-authored by Counseling and Human Development graduate students Qi Chen, Yuqing Qiu, and Hanyun Li, at the 2023 American Psychological Association Division 45 Research Conference in San Diego, CA.
- July 5, 2023 - Dr. Mina Attia, Dr. Bagmi Das, and colleagues published an article titled, “Integrating Multicultural Competencies in Ethical Decision-Making with Immigrant Populations,” in the journal Counseling and Values. This article provides an overview of several ethical decision-making models and utilizes the Multicultural Ethical Decision-Making Model to navigate a scenario involving an immigrant counselor and an immigrant client.
- October 2022 - Dr. Bagmi Das published an article titled, "Sexual Violence Survivors in the Indian Diaspora: The Impact of Acculturation on Support-Seeking Behavior," in the Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education.
- June 2022 - Dr. Das and Counseling graduate students Qi Chen, Yuqing Qiu, & Hanun Li published an article entitled, "A phenomenological inquiry into support-seeking experiences for women survivors of sexual violence in the South Asian diaspora," in Asian American Journal of Psychology.
- September 2020 - Dr. Das provided program-wide Trauma-Informed Care Trainings to the Baltimore and Washington, DC branches of Literacy Labs, a locally-based literacy building non-profit organization.
- July 2020 - Dr. Bagmi Das has been selected to serve on the editorial board for the International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling (IJAC). Editorial board terms are typically three years.