Victor Counted

Victor Counted, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences at Regent University and a faculty affiliate of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. He is also a fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion and a founding member of the Society for the Psychology of Religion in Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Counted has degrees in theology, social sciences, and holds a Ph.D. in Health Psychology from Western Sydney University and a second Ph.D. in Psychology of Religion from The University of Groningen.

As an interdisciplinary psychological scientist, his work primarily examines various aspects of psychosocial and psychospiritual processes that shape health and well-being across cultures. This includes how the interactions between people and their environments affect human behavior and flourishing. He studies and promotes what makes communities flourish from a broad range of perspectives, including health, positive, environmental psychology, and the clinical and applied psychology of religion.

Dr Counted is also a Research Rating Assessor for the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and an Editorial Board Member for Mental Health, Religion, and Culture. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles in various academic journals and contributed dozens of book chapters and edited volumes on themes that coalesce around his research interests, including religion and well-being, human flourishing, adult attachment processes, psychology of religious places, place and disaster psychology, and contemporary issues related to spiritual care. In addition, he has served as a reviewer for numerous journals and is the author of The Roots of Radicalization: Disrupted Attachment Systems and Displacement (Lexington Books, 2021), co-author of Place and Post-Pandemic Flourishing: Disruption, Adjustment, and Healthy Behaviors (Springer, 2021), and lead editor of The Psychology of Religion and Place: Emerging Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and upcoming Place, Spirituality, and Well-being: A Global and Multidisciplinary Approach (Springer, 2023).