On Friday, February 26th, 2021 Eric C. Chen, PhD, Professor, Mental Health Counseling (MHC) Program Coordinator and Project Director of Clinical Mental Health Services in the Bronx Community (CCMH), held the first of a series of CCMH presentations. The first presentation was by Stephanie Rojas, LMHC, and is titled “Counseling Children and Adolescents: Before and During COVID-19.” Please see the presentation slides here and the recording here.

Here is a description of the presenter and the presentation:

Stephanie Rojas, LMHC, is the founder and lead therapist of Emergent Mental Health Services, a private practice in NYC, and a school-based mental health therapist at a non-profit organization. Stephanie received her Master's degree in MHC Program from Fordham in 2014 and has over eight years of experience providing therapy to children, adolescents, and adults experiencing mental health issues. As a Spanish-speaking clinician, Stephanie has received training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), and neurocounseling.

The purpose of this presentation is to highlight the importance of children and adolescents' mental health and the benefits of early intervention. The presentation will cover common mental health diagnoses, evidenced-based practices, and notable trends before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. One specific trend is the recent rise of telehealth practices and the increased need for mental health treatment as individuals cope with a life in quarantine. The presenter will also discuss how clinical practice and research in child and adolescent mental health could change after the pandemic. The audience will gain knowledge in providing evidence-based interventions to children and adolescents through telehealth.

On Friday March 3rd, 2021, Eric C. Chen, Ph.D., Professor, Mental Health Counseling (MHC) Program Coordinator and Project Director of Clinical Mental Health Services in the Bronx Community (CCMH), held the second presentation in a series of CCMH presentations. The second presentation was given by Angela Kang, Ph.D., and is titled “School-Based Mental Health Services for Youth.” Please see the presentation recording here.

Here is a description of the presenter and the presentation:

Dr. Angela Kang is a licensed clinical psychologist in New York and New Jersey and provides therapy for individuals, couples, and families in her private practice. Angela earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Fordham and completed her pre-doctoral internship at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine/Elmhurst Hospital. As a former Program Director at Montefiore Medical Center for more than 10 years, Angela has special expertise working with children and families in a school-based setting and has facilitated workshops to students, teachers, and parents on topics such as bullying, stress management, classroom interventions, and parenting skills. Angela was an adjunct faculty member at Fordham and has also provided individual and group supervision to social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, medical students, residents, and other trainees.

The purpose of this presentation is to provide an introduction to school-based mental health services, including coordination with key stakeholders in the community including families, schools, and community agencies. The presenter will discuss both preventive approaches to supporting the larger school communities as well as more individualized interventions to address the specific mental health needs of each client. The presentation will focus specifically on the academic, social-emotional, and systemic issues impacting youth so that clinicians can begin to recognize the powerful and non-traditional ways in which school-based clinicians can best serve this population.

On Friday, March 12th, 2021 Eric C. Chen, PhD, Professor, Mental Health Counseling (MHC) Program Coordinator and Project Director of Clinical Mental Health Services in the Bronx Community (CCMH), hosted the third presentation in a series of CCMH presentations. The third presentation was given by Aziza A. B. Platt, PhD, and is titled “Family Matters: Connecting Race and Culture in Counseling Adolescents and Their Families.” Please see the presentation slides here and the recording here.

Here is a description of the presenter and the presentation:

This interactive presentation will focus on how to explore and integrate race and culture in intake and therapeutic work with adolescents and by extension their families. We will consider how to assess our own and client's families' racial-cultural factors, how to draw on and incorporate those factors into our therapy and interactions with adolescents' families, and how to navigate cross-cultural interactions.

Dr. Aziza A. B. Platt is a licensed psychologist providing culturally-responsive individual and group psychotherapy, family therapy, and psychological assessment. She earned her PhD in Counseling Psychology at Fordham and has extensive experience in working with individuals with racial-cultural issues, trauma, and grief. She has been invited as a keynote speaker or presenter for several mental health organizations and also acts as a corporate consultant on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and transformation. Dr. Platt currently serves as Vice Chair on APA Div. 49’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee, as a member of the AGPA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Task Force, and as Editor of AGPA’s Widening the Circle column of The Group Circle Newsletter. She is also a member of The Grady Nia Project Community Advisory Board of Emory University.

Recommended resources for young children around race:

• Children's books about race

1. Tan to Tamarind: Poems About the Color Brown By Malathi Iyengar:

2. All the Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger

3. Books by specific race/culture:

• Children's books with multicultural representation: Marimba Books

1. Songs I Love to Sing

2. Clothes I Love to Wear

3. Feelings I Love to Share

4. Places I Love to Go

5. Sights I Love To See

6. Friends I Love to Keep

• Children's books dealing with racism and other forms of oppression

• Book to help parents and teachers talk about racial violence

  1. 1. Power Means Who the Police Believe: Talking with Young Children about Race and Racial Violence

On Friday, March 19th, 2021 Eric C. Chen, PhD, Professor, Mental Health Counseling (MHC) Program Coordinator and Project Director of Clinical Mental Health Services in the Bronx Community (CCMH), held the 4th presentation in a series of CCMH presentations. The 4th presentation was given by Laura Guy, LCSW-R, CCMH’s Outreach and Program Coordinator, and is titled “Evidence-Informed Brief Therapeutic interventions for Underserved Youth in Uncertain Times”. Please see the presentation slides here and the recording here.

Here is a description of the presenter and the presentation:

This presentation will provide an overview of impacts of COVID -19 on underserved urban youth and the resulting increased mental health needs. Evidence-informed brief therapeutic interventions will be highlighted along with transdiagnostic approaches to addressing common factors impacting mental health such as intolerance of uncertainty, sense of unfairness, physical manifestations of stress, and lack of motivation. The audience will learn several telehealth strategies to address these themes.

Laura Guy, LCSW-R, received her MSW from the Columbia University School of Social Work. Before joining the CCMH team, Laura served as a Clinical Supervisor and Program Director at the Montefiore School Health Program, a multisite integrated health program in over 30 schools in the Bronx. In these roles, Laura demonstrated leadership through supervision of 10-14 full time mental health providers (e.g., social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, medical students and residents). In addition to her extensive clinical experience in providing individual and group counseling for children, adolescents and families, she has expertise in the implementation of evidenced-based treatment in, among others, dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, alternatives for families: cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and family therapy.

On Friday, March 26th, 2021, Eric C. Chen, PhD, Professor, Mental Health Counseling (MHC) Program Coordinator and Project Director of Clinical Mental Health Services in the Bronx Community (CCMH), hosted the fifth of a series of CCMH presentations. The fifth presentation was given by the CCMH Graduate Assistants:

• Jamez Amour Anderson

• Cindy Molina

• Gabriela Munoz De Zubiria

• Yangqian Shen

• Jolene Trimm

The Talk is titled “Trauma-Focused Counseling for Children and Adolescents.” Please see the presentation slides here and the recording here.

Here is a description of the presenter and the presentation:

The purpose of this presentation is to inform attendees of the importance of trauma-informed counseling practices for children and adolescents who have experienced childhood trauma. The presentation will begin by introducing the framework for Trauma-Informed Practices across behavioral and mental health settings, and introduce the six main principles of Trauma-Informed Care. Presenters will briefly touch on the neurobiology of trauma in reviewing the Polyvagal Theory, and how childhood trauma effects attachment. Attendees will leave the session with greater knowledge regarding ways to support child and adolescent clients, and their families with processing trauma in counseling.