Research & Presentations
A selection of the academic work that has shaped my path through the Mental Health Counseling program at NYIT — five graduate research papers and two peer presentations spanning clinical assessment, trauma, multicultural counseling, child welfare, and career development. Each piece reflects a question I keep bringing back into the therapy room.
Beck Depression Inventory & Geriatric Depression Scale
MHCO 630 Clinical Assessment · August 2024. A comparative literature review of the BDI and GDS as instruments for screening and assessing depression across the lifespan. Examines validity, reliability, age-appropriateness from pediatric through geriatric populations, and cross-cultural considerations clinicians weigh when choosing between them.
Childhood Sexual Abuse, Trauma & Developmental Impact
MHCO 703 Trauma & Crisis Counseling · July 2025. Examines warning signs and the neurodevelopmental, emotional, and relational consequences of childhood sexual abuse, alongside evidence-based therapeutic responses including TF-CBT, EMDR, play therapy, and DBT. Grounds the clinical work in mandated reporting law, including the National Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and New York's Family Court Act Article 10.
Culturally Alert Counseling for South Asian Americans
MHCO 710 Multicultural Issues · August 2025. Explores immigration history, cultural values, and religious traditions across South Asian American communities, alongside acculturation challenges, intergenerational trauma, somatization of psychological distress, and gender-based violence. Surveys culturally responsive interventions — family-systems work, integration of spirituality, psychoeducation, CBT and DBT — and points to community advocacy resources including SOAR and Sakhi for South Asian Survivors.
Adjustment Disorders in Children: The Impact of Parental Divorce
MHCO 601 Human Development · April 2025. Examines how parental divorce contributes to the onset and severity of adjustment disorder with behavioral issues in children. Draws on attachment theory and social learning theory to explain shifts in family dynamics, parenting styles, and attachment patterns, and reviews evidence-based interventions including Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy, Virtual Reality Play Therapy, and Parent Management Training.
Career Autobiography
MHCO 705 Career Counseling · May 2025. A reflective career-development paper applying Holland's Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments (the RIASEC model) and the O*NET Interest Profiler to map personality, values, and “person-environment fit.” Traces my path from psychology and HR through family law into mental health counseling, and frames career change through the lens of contemporary research on satisfaction, meaning, and the “great resignation.”
Peer Presentations
Two presentations delivered to graduate-level peers. Cohort feedback consistently highlighted the depth and clinical relevance of the work. — ‘Münchausen Syndrome by Proxy and Child Maltreatment’ (June 2024) covers medical child abuse, the National Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, New York's Family Court Act Article 10, and the counselor's role as a mandated reporter. — ‘Multicultural Counseling for South Asian Americans’ (August 2025) is a 40-slide companion to the MHCO 710 paper covering demographics, immigration history, religious traditions, intergenerational trauma, gender-based violence, and culturally responsive interventions.