Dr. HaeSung Han is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Graduate Art Therapy Program at New York University. She earned her PsyD in Clinical Psychology from the George Washington University, her MA in Art Therapy from New York University, and her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University. She is a licensed psychologist in New York and Texas and a licensed and board-certified art therapist.
Dr. Han's work focuses on trauma, exploitation and trafficking, and the factors that shape risk and resilience among young people. In 2017, she co-founded POETIC, a Dallas-based nonprofit serving system-impacted youth affected by child maltreatment and commercial sexual exploitation, where she developed and led an integrated clinical model combining evidence-based treatments (DBT, TF-CBT, and Motivational Interviewing) with art therapy, educational advocacy, case management, and economic empowerment. Under her leadership, POETIC received numerous honors, including D CEO Nonprofit of the Year. Building on this work, she developed the POETIC Risk and Resilience Initiative™ (PRRI), an exploitation prevention curriculum implemented within juvenile justice. Dr. Han has contributed to peer-reviewed literature examining adverse childhood experiences and traumatic sequelae among exploited youth, provides clinical training and supervision to master's- and doctoral-level clinicians, and presents nationally on trauma, exploitation, trafficking, and evidence-based treatment.
Before POETIC, Dr. Han served as the founding Clinical Director of the Letot Girls Residential Treatment Center within the Dallas County Juvenile Department, where she designed the clinical model, including its treatment and discharge framework. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in forensic psychology at the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House at Hackensack University Medical Center, with additional training in forensic, family, and civil psychology at Montclair State University and international trauma studies at Columbia University. Her honors include selection as a Presidential Leadership Scholar and Obama Foundation Leader USA, the Texas Women's Foundation Young Leader Award, and the Holloway Family Foundation Visionary Leadership Award.