Gio Iacono, PhD

Assistant Professor

Gio Iacono is an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. His research interests include LGBTQIA+ youth mental health, youth resilience, diversity and inclusion in social work education, and mindfulness-based treatment approaches, with a primary focus on intervention research and community-based participatory research.

Dr. Iacono is the Principal Investigator of Tuned In!, one of the few systematically developed and empirically tested LGBTQIA+ affirmative mindfulness-based interventions designed to address the mental health needs of sexual and gender diverse youth and emerging adults. Tuned In! is an eight-week virtual group intervention co-created with LGBTQIA+ young people that has demonstrated high feasibility, acceptability, and sustained (12-month follow-up) reductions in depression, anxiety, and psychological distress, alongside increases in mindfulness, self compassion, and sexual self efficacy. This program has been supported by multiple internal and external grants, including the Mind & Life Varela Grant, and the University of Connecticut Research Excellence Program and InCHIP Seed Grant funding,

Dr. Iacono’s research is published worldwide with studies appearing in Clinical Social Work Journal, International Journal of LGBTQ+ Youth Studies, Mindfulness Journal, American Journal of Community Psychology, Social Work Education, Journal of Affective Disorders, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and others.

Dr. Iacono teaches graduate (master’s and doctoral) and undergraduate courses in advanced clinical social work practice with individuals, groups, and families; social work practice with groups; human oppression and structural inequality, and qualitative research methods.

He brings experience working as a psychotherapist, clinical social worker, community organizer, and researcher in a range of health and community-based settings, with community development efforts centered on promoting the mental and sexual health of diverse and marginalized communities. A long-time mindfulness meditation practitioner, he integrates mindfulness into his work as an educator, researcher, and clinician.

Dr. Iacono earned his Ph.D. and MSW from the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, and a BSW with a minor in psychology from Toronto Metropolitan University. At UConn, he’s also a Faculty Affiliate with the Collaboratory on School and Child Health and the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP). Additionally, he’s the co-founder/director of QT-RISE (Queer and Trans Resistance, Intervention, Solidarity & Equity) Research Lab; co-founder/chair of Queer/Trans Research Group, and co-chair of the National LGBTQ Research Symposium.

He’s the recipient of the Journal of Social Work Education: Best Qualitative Article, award for his paper, “Interrupting Hetero- and Cisnormativity in Social Work Programs: LGBTQ+ Student Strategies for Increasing Inclusion,” 2022.

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