Psychology > Graduate > MA Experience
Off Campus Opportunities
The Bridge
The BridgeWebsite: https://www.thebridgeny.org/
Description: Students will intern in one or more of our supportive housing programs. Primary responsibilities will include running therapeutic and recreational groups and activities. Students may also complete administrative assignments or provide case management support to clients.
Location of Experience: Various (Bronx/Manhattan/Brooklyn)
Length of Commitment(s): Flexible
Hours & Days: Flexible
Orientation/Other Training: Students will attend an onboarding orientation and complete required agency trainings on topics including HIPAA, Professional Boundaries, and Cultural Humility. Students will also have access to and receive training on The Bridge’s electronic medical record.
Activities/Caseload: Planning and executing activities groups for clients
Supervision: Supervision will be provided by the program director
Procedure to Apply: Students will complete an initial screening call and then potentially be invited for a second interview with program leadership. A background check is required for all interns prior to their start date. If the students are not introduced via email, they should complete this application: https://www.thebridgeny.org/internship-application
**Dr. Izquierdo will make this introduction**
Paid opportunities also available at the Bridge: https://www.thebridgeny.org/careers
Queens Community House (QCH)
Queens Community House (QCH)Queens Community House (QCH) is a multi-site, multi-service settlement house that serves the diverse population of Queens through a broad network of programs and services for Children and Young Adults, Adults and Families, and Older Adults. We are a modern interpretation of the traditional settlement house, bringing to our work current best practices, cost-effective management, innovative leadership, and a passion for social and economic justice.
Our mission is to provide individuals and families with the tools to enrich their lives and build healthy, inclusive communities. QCH programs serve approximately 25,000 Queens residents each year in neighborhoods throughout the borough.
QCH – PARENT ADVOCATE
The Parent Advocate Placement is an opportunity for students to support the needs of parents and guardians in one of our afterschool programs. Tasks would include helping parents and guardians understand their rights and responsibilities as caregivers and provide support where needed through intake and referral services.
Location: This placement is hybrid, both in person and remote.
Length of Commitment: Placements can be 3, 6 or 9 months.
Hours & Days: Hours must include 3:00-6:00pm. Days: Varies/ M, T, W, TH, Fr
Orientation/Training: Mandatory Onboarding Orientation. Professional development opportunities are available.
***Must be cleared of NYS DOH and DOE Fingerprinting Screening; NYS Clearance Review Background Check; 3 Reference Checks; physical examination with updated TB test.
Activities/caseload: Assigned to one afterschool program/caseload up to 5-10 parents.
Supervision: Individual, 1x a week/ 60 minutes/scheduled during student’s placement times/days.
Procedure to apply: Contact Tabitha Gamonski, LMSW via email at tgamonski@qchnyc.org for further information. Please include in subject line of email: “Parent Advocate”
**Dr. Izquierdo will make this introduction**
Compensation: There is no compensation for this placement.
Paid positions at QCH can be found here.
QCH – SUPPORT GROUP CO-FACILITATOR
The Support Group Co-Facilitator Placement is an opportunity for students to work with a social worker to co-lead groups for parents, guardians, children or teenagers. Tasks would include developing curriculum, outreach and leading activities during group sessions.
Location: This placement is hybrid, both in person and remote.
Length of Commitment: Placements can be 3, 6 or 9 months.
Hours & Days: Hours must include 3:00-6:00pm. Days: Varies/ M, T, W, TH, Fr
Orientation/Training: Mandatory Onboarding Orientation. Professional development opportunities are available.
***Must be cleared of NYS DOH and DOE Fingerprinting Screening; NYS Clearance Review Background Check; 3 Reference Checks; physical examination with updated TB test.
Activities/caseload: Assigned to one afterschool program/caseload is one group every 3 months.
Supervision: Individual, 1x a week/ 60 minutes/scheduled during student’s placement times/days.
Procedure to apply: Contact Tabitha Gamonski, LMSW via email at tgamonski@qchnyc.org for further information. Please include in subject line of email: “Support Group Co-facilitator”
**Dr. Izquierdo will make this introduction**
Compensation: There is no compensation for this placement.
Paid positions at QCH can be found here.
QCH – WELLNESS INITIATIVE
Despite great strides towards a return to normalcy, many in our community continue to struggle. COVID-19 is not yet behind us, and we are mindful that new challenges may still arise. This will be a critical year of recovery and we are prepared, as always, to be a resource and hub of support for our community – physically where possible and virtually as part of our Wellness Initiative.
The Wellness Initiative Placement is an opportunity for students to be part of our ongoing assessments and referral services for all of our families and community members at Queens Community House.
Location: This placement is virtual and will be online.
Length of Commitment: Placements can be 3, 6 or 9 months.
Hours & Days: Hours can vary according to student needs. Days: M, T, W, TH, Fr, S
Orientation/Training: Mandatory Onboarding Orientation. Professional development opportunities are available.
Activities/caseload: Assessments and referrals depend on needs of the community.
Supervision: Individual, 1x a week/ 60 minutes/scheduled during student’s placement times/days.
Procedure to apply: Contact Tabitha Gamonski, LMSW via email at tgamonski@qchnyc.org for further information. Please include in subject line of email: “Wellness Initiative Placement”
**Dr. Izquierdo will make this introduction**
Compensation: There is no compensation for this placement.
Paid positions at QCH can be found here.
Northwell Health – Digital Health
Sunny X. Tang, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Feinstein Institutes and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Tang is a board-certified psychiatrist and conducts cutting-edge research on psychosis, language, and social processing. Dr. Tang’s research focus is on digital health and computational psychiatry, using the latest technology to better understand and treat psychiatric disorders—particularly psychotic disorders, like schizophrenia. She seeks to understand the brain changes that occur during psychosis, so that better preventions and treatments can be developed. In particular, social impairments and language changes are very prominent in psychotic disorders and negatively impact an individual’s quality of life. Working with Dr. Tang, you will be trained to recruit participants and perform clinical, language, and cognitive assessments.
Northwell Health – Perinatal Depression
Perinatal depression (PND) is a psychiatric illness that affects one in every eight women. Dr. Deligiannidis’ clinical research team studies biological markers, including endocrine, genetic, and neuroimaging markers, that could predict risk for developing PND. Her research group also is leading several novel therapeutic (e.g., chronotherapy, fast-acting antidepressants, neurostimulation) clinical trials. Students will be trained on all current research studies and will assist will all components of the studies from participant recruitment in local clinical obstetric and perinatal psychiatry clinical settings, assist participants with mood/anxiety/sleep/functioning questionnaires and if interested can complete MRI safety training and attend neuroimaging sessions with the PI. Students will also be trained to collect salivary biospecimens. The student will attend weekly lab meetings with the team, including the PI and research coordinators. He/she will also learn about the design of research studies, informed consent, recruitment approaches, ethics in research, and IRB protocols. The student will help with electronic medical chart review to help identify women who may be eligible for research participation in any of these studies and manage patient lists. Students will learn in depth about common clinical psychological and medical conditions in perinatal women and will observe psychiatric interviews and interact with women with varying disease severity (euthymic to severe). This experience requires a 10-12 hour per week minimum commitment over a duration of 2 semesters. Personal transportation is required for this experience as the student will drive to local clinical practices where he/she will conduct perinatal depression screening in patients per research protocols.
Northwell Health – Neuroimaging
The laboratory of Miklos Argyelan, M.D. is interested in recent advances in measuring macro-scale neural networks that have opened new avenues to identify circuit changes in the human brain associated with disease traits, clinical states, and treatment response. Once clinically relevant neural circuits are identified and validated, the next frontier will be their selective and targeted manipulation in patients suffering from severe neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Argyelan combines his experiences in studying neurocircuits with neuroimaging and treating patients with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). His research sets out (1) to identify potential target circuits and (2) to manipulate them through bioelectric methods in the context of prospective clinical studies. Dr. Argyelan runs the BioMEND (Bioelectrical Medicine) center at the Feinstein Institute/Zucker Hillside Hospital and is currently running two longitudinal TMS and two ECT studies in psychotic and mood disorders. The ultimate objective is to understand how bioelectric treatment could modify neural networks.
Dr. Argyelan is looking for motivated students who are interested in learning the methods of neuroimaging research. This requires that the candidate dedicate at least 3 semesters in the lab, with at least 10-12 hrs. of work/week dedicated to this effort. Most of this work can be done remotely; 2 hours per week would be the minimum to be in person. The ideal candidates have some programming experience (R, Matlab or similar) and have no aversion toward linear algebra but will consider anybody who is motivated to learn.
Mind the Gap Initiative (MGI)
Mind the Gap Initiative (MGI)Mind the Gap Initiative (MGI) is a nonprofit organization aimed at closing the gap in mental health education and accessibility. MGI collaborates with community-based organizations and community leaders to gain a better understanding of the mental health needs specific to the community the program is being developed for. Through interactive educational programs, diverse communities in NYC are provided with the tools needed to address mental health. MGI is also actively offering a Community Leadership Program, which invites motivated community leaders to gain a basic sense of mental health, mental illness, and how to shift the conversation surrounding mental health to reduce the stigma associated with it.
Through partnering with Queens College, Masters students would be able to gain a sense of what small non-profit program planning entails. Students would assist in conducting needs assessments, training Community Leaders (with supervision), and creating concrete materials (flyers & leaflets) and social media posts utilizing message mapping skills. All students would work remotely and will have access to Zoom/ Google Meet for meetings and Canva. Students may be expected to attend in-person programs and events (1-2 per semester). This position is made to be flexible to meet time constraints students may have. Students are expected to commit 2-3 hours a week to MGI work and can work on their own schedule and time apart from scheduled meetings. MGI asks that students commit for a minimum of 1 semester. Supervision would be provided in 30-60 min sessions 4x a month, with access to supervisors made available for additional questions/ concerns that may arise.
All positions are volunteer based and are not paid positions.