Externship Opportunities

Child HELP Partnership Externship in Trauma-Specific Mental Health Services

The year-long externship at the Child HELP Partnership (previous known as PARTNERS) provides a unique opportunity for graduate students in clinical, counseling, and school psychology to gain specialized expertise in empirically-supported assessment and therapy for traumatized, multi-cultural preschoolers, children, adolescents, and young adults, and their caregivers in traditional and non-traditional outpatient settings. Child HELP Partnership  Twenty-five percent of youth are exposed to traumatic events, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, and bereavement due to traumatic circumstances (such as domestic or community violence). This rate is as high as 90% for youth in inner-city communities. Trauma-related mental health problems include: posttraumatic stress disorder and other forms of anxiety, depression, aggression and oppositionality, conduct problems, and social skills deficits. In the long term and without mental health interventions, traumatized children may experience substance abuse, personality disorders, and vocational and interpersonal difficulties. Exposure to these traumatic events and mental health consequences is more common among economically-disadvantaged families of color, who are less likely to seek mental health services.  

Child HELP Partnership at St. John’s University is a clinical research program designed to serve traumatized, multi-cultural preschoolers, children, adolescents, and young adults, and their families. Program staff includes licensed psychologists, post-doctoral fellows, licensed social workers, graduate students, and undergraduate volunteers. Under the leadership of Dr. Elissa Brown, licensed clinical psychologist, we provide outreach, assessment, psychotherapy, and case management services in both our clinic and community-based sites. Services are provided in multiple languages. We also conduct community building efforts to disseminate these trauma-informed, evidence-based services.  Our community partnerships include: Child Protective Services, Legal Aid, Queens Family Court, local schools, Queens Library branches, and Queens Child Advocacy Center. As a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, the Child HELP Partnership also collaborates with national experts.

As a clinical research program, the Child HELP Partnership is committed to evaluating every component of treatment and service delivery. Dr. Brown and her team have received funding from federal, state, and private agencies to develop, test, and disseminate assessment and treatment techniques for traumatized children and their families. For example, we have compared trauma-specific cognitive behavioral therapies to other forms of psychotherapy for physically abused children and their families, and children and their mothers bereaved due to September 11th. Currently, we are examining the efficacy of culturally-informed, language-accessible adaptations to evidence-based services for the ethnically-diverse community of Queens. In the upcoming year, we also will be evaluating the effectiveness of trauma-specific therapy when conducted in local libraries.

LEAP

The Liaison to Emerging Adulthood Program (LEAP) is a clinical research program designed to serve emerging adults (ages 17-25) who have been exposed to trauma and are experiencing multiple problems, such as substance abuse, mental illness, homelessness, and academic difficulties (referred to as disconnected youth).  Under the leadership of Dr. Andrea Bergman, licensed clinical psychologist, LEAP provides psychosocial assessment and psychotherapy.  We provide these services in partnership with community-based settings that serve disconnected youth (e.g., GED programs, advocacy agencies, social service agencies). We are currently developing a manualized treatment (Risk Reduction through Independence-Focused Therapy) which combines components from several empirically validated treatments (e.g., trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy, motivational interviewing, dialectical behavioral therapy).  As a clinical research program, we are committed to evaluating this treatment first in an open clinical trial and then through randomized clinical trials.  This work is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Brown and the Child HELP Partnership.

 Child HELP Partnership Externship Opportunities: Primary Site:

PARTNERS Clinic: PARTNERS is an outpatient mental health clinic located at the St. John’s University Center for Psychological Services. The program is a specialized program for preschoolers, children, and adolescents who have been traumatized, mostly through interpersonal violence, and their caregivers. We provide outreach, assessment, psychotherapy, and case management services in an outpatient setting. Therapies used are empirically-supported, including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT; for youth exposed to sexual abuse, domestic violence, and bereavement due to traumatic circumstances, and their non-offending caregivers) and Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT; for physical abuse and other forms of family violence).   

Potential responsibilities for externs include: recruitment and engagement of families of culturally-diverse communities; trauma-informed psychosocial assessment using standardized measures and diagnostic interviews; case management; trauma-specific individual- and family-based cognitive behavioral therapy; and participation in ongoing research projects. Training includes: literature reviews, web-based courses, review of audiotapes of sessions, and didactic presentation of treatment protocols. Supervision is conducted in groups on a weekly basis with a licensed psychologist. Services are provided primarily during after-school hours (e.g., 3:30-9:00pm).  

Potential Rotations:

Project CONNECT: As part of a grant funded by the Department of Justice, Project CONNECT (Community Networks Negotiating Evaluations and Counseling for Trauma) aims to adapt, provide, and evaluate AF-CBT for Latino and African/Caribbean American child and adolescent victims of abuse and domestic, dating, and community violence. CONNECT outreach, assessments, and therapy are being conducted at the Queens Library and other community settings. 

Potential responsibilities include: recruitment and engagement of families of culturally-diverse communities; trauma-informed psychosocial assessment using standardized measures and diagnostic interviews; case management; consultation with library staff; trauma-specific, individual- and family-based cognitive behavioral therapy; and participation in ongoing research projects. Training includes: literature reviews, review of audiotapes of sessions, and didactic presentation of treatment protocols. Supervision is conducted in groups on a weekly basis with a licensed psychologist.  

LEAP: Services are typically provided in collaboration with the agencies that we partner with (e.g., schools, social service providers) and we often provide services on-site, at the agency. Our specific collaborations vary during any given externship year, depending on need and funding.  

Potential responsibilities include: comprehensive psychosocial assessment of trauma history, substance abuse, and mental health correlates; psychoeducational assessment; systems-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy; and consultation with other community agency staff members.  Supervision consists of didactic training, feedback on audiotaped sessions, weekly group supervision with Dr. Bergman, weekly consultation with agency staff, and ad hoc supervision for psychoeducational evaluations.

Didactics: Drs. Brown, Bergman, their staffs, and local experts will provide didactic training on trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health services. Each rotation will include readings, training, and ongoing feedback (as noted above). Additional didactics will be provided on a range of topics. Topics include: 

  •          Developmental traumatology: From preschool through emerging adulthood
  •          Bereavement: Prevalence, mental health correlates, and interventions delivery
  •          Trauma-informed, evidence-based psychosocial assessment
  •          School-based trauma: Definition, impact, and interventions
  •         Interpersonal violence from a legal perspective
  •          Community-based interventions: How to maximize success

Externship Requirements: 

The Child HELP Partnership externship is a one-year commitment, from July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014. The externship requires a commitment of 16 hours per week, including two evenings. Assignment to rotations will be based on interest and program demands. Clinical, counseling, and school psychology graduate students are welcome to apply. Priority will be given to students with relevant prior experience. Students with multi-cultural backgrounds and fluency in a second language are encouraged to apply. 

Application Requirements:

  • Letter of interest that summarizes previous experience and goals for training
  • Curriculum vita
  • Two letters of recommendation
  • If an interview is granted, a writing sample will be requested

Interested students should send applications to:

Dr. Elissa Brown
Child HELP Partnership
Center for Psychological Services, Seton Complex
St. John’s University
152-11 Union Turnpike
Queens, NY 11367            
or
browne@stjohns.edu 

We will begin reading applications on January 15, 2013

Child HELP Partnership faculty:

Andrea Bergman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, is the Director of LEAP at St. John’s University. Dr. Bergman’s research interests are focused on the application of empirically-validated treatments to underserved populations, such as emerging adults who have dropped out of high school and are experiencing multiple mental health problems. Currently, she is involved in the development and implementation of a treatment program for emerging adults who have experienced academic failure, exposure to trauma, and substance abuse. Dr. Bergman is also interested in phenomenology and comorbidity in psychopathology.

Elissa J. Brown, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, is the Executive Director of the Child HELP Partnership Program at St. John’s University. Her primary clinical and research interests include the prevention and treatment of child trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder. She has participated in research on the assessment and treatment of sexual assault, child physical abuse, and bereavement related to traumatic circumstances (such as September 11th, 2001). Dr. Brown has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, New York State Office of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Justice, and Private Foundations to evaluate treatments for traumatized children and adolescents, many of whom are from culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged populations. She is the Director of a Category III affiliate site of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Dr. Brown is a member of several national and international organizations dedicated to improving mental health services for traumatized children and is on the Board of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Komal Sharma-Patel, Ph.D., is the Assistant Director of Research at the Child HELP Partnership. Additionally, she provides licensed clinical supervision to graduate students including externs. Her clinical and research endeavors have focused on understanding and treating traumatic reactions in children, adolescents and adults who have experienced interpersonal violence. She is interested in continuing her professional development by focusing her activities on investigating clinical interventions for multiply traumatized adolescents in urban settings. Her publications include a chapter in the Handbook of Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents. 

Vanessa Rodriguez, Ph.D, is Assistant Director of Community Programs at the Child HELP Partnership. She also is the coordinator for Project CONNECT and former coordinator for the BRIDGES Project, a public awareness campaign for crime victims’ rights that targeted the Latino and Chinese communities in Queens. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from St. John’s University.  She has worked for the Child HELP Partnership since 2004 as a clinician and researcher for PARTNERS Clinic and the State Psychiatric Inpatient project.  Her clinical and research interests include cultural adaptations to evidence-based trauma treatment for Latino families, increasing mental health service utilization within Latino communities, and early childhood mental health.