Kathryn Luk

Kathryn T. Luk, MSW (she/her) is a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. She received an MSW from the University of Pittsburgh’s joint MSW/PhD program and a BS in Neuroscience with a minor in Public Health from the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences. Her scholarship employs trauma-informed and recovery-oriented lenses to examine service user outcomes associated with experiencing compulsion and coercion within the mental healthcare system. Her dissertation will evaluate the use of and factors associated with compulsion and coercion within New York state’s Assisted Outpatient Treatment system, with a specific focus on ethnoracial disparities. Informed by her personal and professional experiences working with victim/survivors of gender-based violence accessing the mental healthcare system, Kathryn’s long-term goals are to continually evaluate and implemented the integrating trauma-informed care and recovery-oriented services into behavioral health systems.

Additional Research Activities

• Evaluation of the New York State Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program

Role: Graduate Student Assistant with Dr. Nev Jones & Human Services Research Institute (HSRI)

• Mobile Crisis Teams: Testing the Potential for Perpetuating Disparities

Role: Graduate Student Assistant with Dr. Leah Jacobs

Representative Publications

Labrum, T., Luk, K., Newhill, C.E., & Solomon, P. (2024). Relationship quality among persons with serious mental illness and their relatives: Rates and correlates. Psychiatric Quarterly. https://doi-org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11126-024-10069-8

Luk, K.T. & Newhill, C.E. (2023). Hurt Instead of Help: BIPOC clients and sanctuary harm during inpatient care. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work. Under Review.