Spotlight on Our Scholarship Fund Recipients
We are excited to share that we have selected our 2nd round of scholarship recipients as part of the Scholarship Fund at Trauma Recovery, EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs.
The purpose of the Scholarship Fund is to provide scholarships to master’s level (or higher) students that are interested in working in Community Mental Health.
The program launched at the end of 2022, with the first round of scholarships awarded in January 2023. Trauma Recovery/HAP will award approximately twenty (20) scholarships per calendar year.
Second Round of Scholarships
This round of scholarship recipients has shown their keen interest in becoming EMDR trained clinicians in order to better serve the communities where they live and work. Several applicants were drawn to community mental health and trauma therapy due to their own lived experiences.
When applying to the program, applicants were asked to answer several questions, such as “Why do you want to work in the sphere of community mental health?” and “How and why learning EMDR is important to achieve your clinical goals?”
Here are some of their inspiring words:
“Mental Health has always been an interest to me when I was in therapy and learning how to live my life with the trauma I endured. I learned that the trauma I have faced has framed my emotions, my thinking, and my actions. I read books and listened to a lot of ted talks and learned that I can still live my life to the fullest even with unbearable trauma, and that the trauma I faced didn’t define me. When I continued to put myself first and process that trauma, I became infatuated with helping and supporting other people who live in the trauma they have faced. I continued to further my career as a social worker to help people who are faced with trauma, be able to grow beyond that trauma and continue to live and heal within the life they choose.”
“Throughout the last three years, I have had the opportunity to work with people with disabilities, adults with severe mental illness, and low-income families with children and elementary students via social work. While working over 3,600 hours with these communities, I encountered a variety of adverse experiences and complex traumas, including exposure to suicide, divorce, violence, and death. Many clients are diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and experience significant grief and loss. One particular client had multiple suicide deaths within their family by the age of nine. I have seen how effective trauma treatment is in my own life from my experience with childhood abuse. EMDR helped teach me how to process trauma as an adult, providing skills to prevent and stop traumatic flashbacks, and inspiring me to not live my life in fear. My personal experience with EMDR can provide clients insight on how to build resiliency and live a life for the future, not the past. Healing is a lifelong challenge, and it is critical in social work to recognize that no treatment method will work for everyone. However, learning EMDR will help me empower clients within any community I choose to work in, as this therapeutic approach addresses both body and mind and is adaptable for a variety of individuals.”
Congratulations and welcome to our second group of scholarship recipients!
Chloe Bachman
Lauren Brenny
Matthew Cole
Raelee Dubyk
Zachary Galasi
Emmalynn Goddard
Jasmine Jackson
Sarah Katz
Phillipia Pottinger
Shambhavi Naga Prathap