Melissa Janson and Chongzheng Wei of the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the Gevirtz Graduate School are two of the six winners of 2020 Graduate Student Internship Fellowships. Internships can unlock countless opportunities for graduate students to develop job skills that cannot be gained through their graduate studies, but are nonetheless crucial to their career success. UC Santa Barbara’s Graduate Student Internship Fellowship assists graduate students with attaining experience related to career goals and professional development. This funding is made possible through the Graduate Student Association referendum fees and additional support from the Graduate Division, under the leadership of Career Services.
Melissa Janson is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology emphasis under the mentorship of Dr. Erika Felix. Melissa is going to be the Psychology Trainee at the Children’s Clinic of Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness. She is excited about this internship because it will provide her with the opportunity to work with underserved children and families within Santa Barbara county while providing mental health services. This internship allows her to acquire real world experience working with a population she is deeply passionate about. She hopes to learn a variety of treatment modalities to provide high-quality therapy to underserved families in need, and conduct psychological assessments. She is looking forward to helping her future clients, while also expanding her own knowledge.
Chongzheng Wei is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology working with Dr. Tania Israel. Chongzheng will be the Education Program Officer for the Gay and Lesbian Campus Association of China (GLCAC), a Chinese NGO that focuses on LGBT youth and gender equality education. He is looking forward to working closely with Chinese LGBTQ activists, education training facilitators as well as teachers. He is excited to be developing a manual about gender-inclusive anti-bullying education in China, including relevant polices, teaching methodologies, lesson plans, and best practices. He hopes that the manual will serve as an essential tool to raise the awareness of gender-inclusive anti-bullying education among Chinese educators, and to advocate for policy changes when working with government officials. This opportunity will further his long term career goal of promoting gender equality in Chinese education institutions and to apply his research findings into creating social changes.