Meet the "Let's Talk" Staff

All "Let's Talk" counselors are part of the clinical team at Gannett Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). View the full CAPS Staff list.

Matt Boone Matt Boone, LCSW, studied English at UC Berkeley, which prepared him for nothing, but gave him great material for erudite party conversation. After abandoning his dreams of rock stardom, he moved to Boston, where he worked with at-risk urban youth and attended the Boston University School of Social Work. In addition to counseling students at Cornell, he has taught social work and counseling courses at Ithaca College and the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Matt is especially interested in reducing institutional barriers to accessing counseling services, and he loves working with people who think counseling is for sissies. Other interests include anxiety, depression, eating disorders, ALAANA and international student concerns, and cross-cultural adjustment in all its forms. His friends wish he would stop talking about Radiohead. Matt serves as the "Let's Talk" Coordinator and can be contacted directly for feedback or consultation.

Carrie Cragun is spending a year at Cornell completing her post-doctoral residency at the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Gannett. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Florida (Go Gators!) and pursued a doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from the State University of New York, University at Albany. The weather in Albany was a big change from Florida but it prepared her for the winter in Minneapolis where she completed her pre-doctoral internship last year at the University of Minnesota counseling center. She hopes that winters in Ithaca are not as cold as winters in Minnesota…Carrie was born in Bogota Colombia and moved to Florida when she was 6 years old. She is no longer fluent in Spanish but loves the language and is appreciative of anyone who is patient enough to speak Spanish with her. She hopes to gain back her fluency! Her hobbies include running, playing racquetball, photography, and spending time with her very large and lovable cat.  She enjoys working with college students and her clinical interests include depression, anxiety, relationships, multicultural counseling, and identity issues. She hopes that students who need to talk to someone will stop by and give it a try.

Maurice Haltom is a psychotherapist who received his Master's in Social Work from the University at Buffalo and became a Licensed Master of Social Work in 1999. He has specialty in trauma recovery and treating anxiety and depression. He has worked persistently with assisting persons recover/develop a stable self esteem/sense of self so as to foster improvements in everyday judgment, decisonmaking, world-view, stress tolerance, intuition and critical thinking. He also has specialty in stress management; incorporating knowledge he has gained from 31 years teaching Asian martial/health arts. Additionally, Maurice is a diversity counselor assisting those who need assistance dealing with cultural, racial and ethnic issues.

Susan Han is a postdoctoral resident at Cornell’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Yale University, she lived in New York City for several years while working at a psychiatric hospital. Susan then went on to receive a master’s and doctoral degree in clinical psychology from George Mason University and last year, completed her internship at the University of Michigan. Susan has a wide range of experiences providing services to both the graduate and undergraduate student population, with a particular focus on students of color. Her clinical and research interests include multicultural perspectives in counseling, family and relationship issues, mood/anxiety disorders, and alcohol and drug concerns.

Sharon Mier recieved her PsyD in 1991 from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. Her background has been in community mental health. Prior to coming to Cornell in 2001, Sharon worked in a UK for the National Health Service in Leeds. While there, she organized the first national conference on race, ethnicity and metnal health, in the year 2000. Sharon is particularly interested in providing advocacy for students who are unable to access counseling services. She works with Graduate and Undergraduate students, with a focus on international students. 

Sonya Shropshire has a favorite quote she often likes to share with people: “If it’s mentionable, then it’s manageable.” Sonya obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and her Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology from Howard University. After this, she decided to do a bit of an academic country tour and study in Washington State and Florida before fulfilling one of her life-long dreams and becoming a psychotherapist. (Another dream she rarely shared with others was to be a back-up singer in Sting’s band, but she now feels she is of more help to people as a therapist). Sonya completed her pre-doctoral internship at Vanderbilt University’s Psychological and Counseling Center, and completed her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her clinical interests include multicultural counseling issues, PTSD and trauma, domestic and dating violence, depression, adjustment and life transition issues.

Tow Yee Yau is the Assistant Director for Community-Based Services. He received his doctorate at the University of Denver, Colorado. A bicultural psychologist, he is able to provide psychotherapy in English or Mandarin. He has extensive training and experience working with diverse populations (e.g., children, adolescents, and adults in college counseling centers, community mental health centers, medical hospitals, and corporate organizations in the U.S. and Singapore. Over the years, he has provided individual, couples, and group counseling, and psychotherapy with issues such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, stress-related disorders, career decisions, and multicultural issues. Further, he has been a faculty member and mental health consultant in Singapore and the U.S. Dr. Yau has developed a strong interest in applying Buddhist educational and psychological principles in his mindfulness therapy. He is not holding any "Let's Talk" hours this semester, but can be reached at CAPS (255-5208) for consultation. 

Wai-Kwong Wong was born in Hong Kong but moved when he was seven years old to New York City. A product (some would argue a consequence) of the city public school system, he attended the University of Chicago largely because his best friend told him that that was where Indiana Jones had studied. Armed with his sophisticated decision-making abilities, the aspiring adventurer/explorer drifted through several majors, strongly considering Anthropology at one point (until he had to read Levi Strauss’ Savage Mind, which led to unsettling questions about free will, but more importantly really made his head hurt) before settling on Sociology. After graduating in 1989, he held positions in several non-profit agencies working with the developmentally disabled, the chronically mentally ill, and individuals with HIV before returning to graduate school at the University of Virginia, where he did research on delinquency, ethnic youth gangs, and ethnic identity. He completed his pre-doctoral internship at UMass Amherst, and has been at Cornell since 1999. His interests include multicultural counseling, grief, depression, anxiety and identity issues.