Dr. Sherryl Muli-Abellanosa, a permanent faculty member of USC’s Psychology Department, has been elected as a Board Director of the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP).

Founded in 1962, PAP is an accredited organization of psychology professionals who are committed to promote excellence in teaching, research, and practice of psychology. Out of the 14 candidates all over the country, Dr. Sherryl was elected to represent the Visayas Region. She will serve a three-year team together with six other board directors.

When asked about her planned contribution to PAP, Dr. Sherryl shared that her main focus is to promote leadership with integrity, accountability, and transparency. “I envision an organization that is responsive to the needs of its members far and wide while proactively ensuring fairness and honesty in all transactions with the end goal of full accountability to the members, who are the blood and heart of the organization,” she added.

This achievement is just one of many. Dr. Sherryl, is in fact, a 6th placer in the Board Licensure Examination for Psychologists and she earned her degree on Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology major in Clinical Psychology from Silliman University in 2018.

Ever since, she is an embodiment of a practicing psychologist with a big heart to serve the community. She is an ardent mental health advocate who founded KAUBAN, the very first mental health support group for people manifesting symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation in the Visayas-Mindanao. Later on, USC adopted KAUBAN as one of the most sustained CES programs. The members regularly meet every Saturday via Zoom for lectures about mental health and they also conduct individual and group processing for free.

On top of that, she is also the proponent of USC Mental Health Online Support for COVID-19 Crisis which was the first online mental health support established when WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic global concern.  Prior to her election as board director, Dr. Sherryl served as the Co-Chair of PAP Counseling Psychology Division from 2018 to 2020. Furthermore, she is also a trained Choice Theory/Reality Therapist and Solution Focused Behavior Therapy practitioner.