Nominations for the Sustainability Education Award were based on the candidate’s incorporation of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and their contributions to the areas of teaching, research, and service.
Mercado, a National Register Health Service Psychologist, provides psychological services to children, adolescents and adults, including individual therapy, specialized group therapies, and conducts psychological evaluations.
He has directed his latest research to documenting the effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) within the Latino population. DBT is first-line treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder and other complex clinical disorders.
Graduate students in clinical psychology co-facilitate group therapy with Mercado on a weekly basis for 17 weeks at a time.
“You don’t usually get to participate in this environment until you have graduated,” said Yvette Hinojosa, a graduate student in clinical psychology and one of Dr. Mercado’s students. “Being able to learn about this therapy and to co-facilitate a group is an amazing opportunity. You can really see how you can make a difference in people’s lives.”
Mercado is pleased to see his students accepted into master’s and doctoral programs upon graduation. Many students continue to help him in this research and writing, and many have presented at local, state, and national conferences or have published in peer-reviewed psychology journals.
In addition to his professional career, Mercado serves his community in several capacities. He is a trustee for the Texas Psychological Association where he also serves as the Diversity Division chair, is an active member of the American Psychological Association, a board member at the South Texas Psychological Association, and works with two other nonprofit organizations in the Rio Grande Valley.
In the summer of 2017, he and psychiatry residents from the UTRGV School of Medicine will be providing a culturally adapted DBT treatment program to the Rio Grande State Center Medical Outpatient Clinic in Cameron County.
Department of Psychological Sciences
College of Liberal Arts
Assistant Professor