教师 Members Awarded Connelly 教师 Grant

GMercyU 教师 members Stephanie Fratantaro, MS, NCC, LPC; 约翰·冈恩博士; Elizabeth Brokamp, 博士学位; and S. 梅根·沃尔特博士 were awarded the Connelly 教师 Grant for the 2023-2024 academic year. 选C. Connelly Endowed Scholarship Fund was created in the 1970s by the Connelly Foundation to support student scholarships and 教师 development. The grant’s purpose is to encour年龄 教师 development through scholarly activity.

Public 健康 and Psychology 服务 Trip to Jamaica

In partnership with Public 健康 program 教师, Professor Fratantaro helped to create PUB/PSY 437 Promoting Global 健康 Through 服务, an exciting new course offered as a collaboration between the Psychology and Public 健康 programs. The course is designed to prepare students for a service trip to Kingston, Jamaica to volunteer with Mustard Seed Communities.

The course was originally funded through a President’s Mini Grant awarded to Public 健康 教师 members Sharla Willis, 认为, 英里每小时, MA, CHES; Maria Warnick, 博士学位, CRNP, FNP-BC; and Victory Osezua, 博士学位. After connecting with Psychology 教师, it was decided to be an interprofessional learning opportunity for both Public 健康 and Psychology students, prompting Professor Fratantaro to apply for the Connelly 教师 Grant. 学生 interest played a significant role in the creation of the course and Psychology’s involvement.

在牙买加的时候, students will provide health/mental health education for residents of Mary’s Child, 敢于关心, 马太福音25:40. Some of the student-led trainings will be for adolescents and young adults with HIV and pregnant teens/new teen mothers and for caregivers for the teens. Training topics will include maternal health, 婴儿发展, health relationships, communication/boundaries, and managing stress/chronic health conditions. As part of the curriculum, students are studying Jamaican culture and public health/social service systems.

Partnership with Western Galilee College

In partnership with Yehuda Peled, 博士学位 from Western Galilee College, Dr. Gunn is utilizing the Connelly 教师 Grant to collect data on the relationship between various psychological factors and suicidal thoughts and behaviors amongst individuals exposed to cyber bullying. The partnership was spearheaded by SoYoung Kang, 博士学位, Director for the Center for Teaching and Learning, who brought together representatives from each institution to connect. Dr. Gunn和Dr. Peled both have an interest in exposure to bully victimization which inspired the project.
Dr. Peled is set to collect data in Israel while Dr. Gunn will use the U.S. Alchemer, an outside company, to crowdsource for participants. Dr. Gunn和Dr. Peled estimate around 1,000 participants to be collected in Israel and the hope is the same for the U.S.

There will likely be an opportunity for Psychology students to eng年龄 with the research as Dr. Gunn enjoys offering them the hands-on learning experience. Through the creation of scholarly presentations and publications, the project will contribute to the psychological/social scientific literature more broadly than before.

Social Work and 咨询 Partnership

教师 from GMercyU’s Social Work and 咨询 programs created a partnership to offer Social Work, 咨询, and School 咨询 Virtual Supervision Groups for alumni. The purpose of the groups is for alumni to work towards obtaining their LCSW or LPC, obtain free CEU’s for Social Work, 咨询, and School 咨询, and to eng年龄 in ways to increase self-care and enhance professional competence. Attendees will also re-connect with 教师 and classmates and work in profession-specific and interprofessional groups.

Qualified 教师 supervisors include Professor Nuss; Elizabeth Brokamp, 博士学位, LPC, ACS; and S. 梅根·沃尔特博士, NCC, LCMHCA. The Connelly Grant allows the 教师 members to lower the fee for this opportunity. Virtual sessions will begin in September 2024 and last through May 2025.