Current Interns: 2022-23 Academic Year

Danielle Esses, M.S.
PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium, Palo Alto University

Danielle Esses is a fourth-year doctoral candidate at the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium and extern at the Mount Sinai World Trade Center Program. She gravitates toward treating complex, trauma-associated presentations and disorders that tend to carry stigma, such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) and substance use disorders. Above all, she values understanding the full individual, considering not just diagnostic presentation, but also comorbid medical issues, cultural differences, legal system involvement, trauma exposure, and the like. Danielle has been involved in DBT research throughout her graduate training and provides intervention primary through a DBT framework, with psychodynamic additions. Her dissertation complements her clinical interests, investigating mechanisms of change in DBT for individuals with BPD. Danielle is passionate about counteracting stigma against BPD, as well as understanding not just whether treatments work, but how.

Qurat-ul-ain Gulamhussein, M.A.
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities

Qurat-ul-ain Gulamhussein (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology at Stony Brook University, New York. Her clinical interests focus on delivering strengths-based and culturally sensitive mental health treatment to marginalized communities. Having trained and worked in various settings and evidence-based modalities (e.g. ACT, CBT, DBT, TLDP), Qurat-ul-ain takes an intersectionality lens, reflecting on her own positionality and identities and those of the individuals she works with, in order to best meet their treatment goals and needs. Her clinical work and research inform each other. Some of her prior work includes examining the feasibility of mobile health interventions to improve service delivery for racial minority, immigrant, and refugee families. Her dissertation explores how mental health interventions can be delivered effectively for Muslim families both in the US and Jordan. Outside of work, Qurat-ul-ain enjoys kickboxing, learning languages, and walking in nature with family and friends.

Maya Nauphal, M.A.
Boston University

Maya Nauphal (she/her/hers) is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at Boston University. Her clinical interests include working with individuals who struggle with emotion dysregulation from a transdiagnostic perspective, including anxiety, mood, substance use, trauma-related, and personality disorders. Maya has experience conducting individual and group therapy using evidence-based treatments including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with adolescents and adults. She prioritizes understanding her clients’ clinical presentations within the context of their psychosocial and cultural environments to provide interventions that are culturally responsive and person-centered. Maya’s research interests include developing brief transdiagnostic interventions to increase access to mental healthcare and understanding and targeting factors that influence individuals’ attitudes towards their mental health and treatment. For her dissertation, Maya developed and evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effect of a single-session mindfulness and acceptance-based group intervention targeting mental health self-stigma among adults seeking treatment for their mental health. Maya is also passionate about advocating for LGBTQ+ mental health and dismantling mental health stigma among clinical psychologists and the general population.

Ellora Vilkin, M.A.
Stony Brook University

Ellora Vilkin (she/her/hers) is a six-year doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Stony Brook University. Ellora’s research and clinical interests center on culturally-responsive assessment and treatment with a focus on LGBTQ+ people and others with marginalized sexual identities/practices (e.g. consensual non-monogamy, kink). Clinically, Ellora takes an integrative, person-centered approach to treatment, employing evidence-based treatments including CBT, DBT, CPT, IBCT, EFT, and CBASP. She provides therapy to adults for concerns including mood and anxiety disorders, relationship problems, sexual functioning, and trauma. Ellora’s research examines novel means of conceptualizing, assessing, and supporting relationships and wellbeing among people in diverse relationships.

Nicole Cardona, M.A.
Boston University

Nicole Cardona (she/they) is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at Boston University in Boston, MA. Nicole earned bachelor's degrees in Psychology and in Health: Science, Society, and Policy from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, and a master's degree in psychology from Boston University. Nicole is intensively trained in dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT-A) and has also received training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy for PTSD (DBT-PTSD), and prolonged exposure (PE). Nicole has worked with children, adolescents, and adults at outpatient, intensive outpatient, partial hospital, residential, and inpatient levels of care, and is especially interested in treating adolescents and emerging adults struggling with emotion regulation, interpersonal difficulties, and trauma. Nicole's current research is focused on emotion and avoidance in the context of invalidation and minority stress, particularly among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals.

Juliana Petersen, M.S.
Utah State University

Juliana (Julie) Petersen is a doctoral candidate in the combined clinical/counseling psychology PhD program at Utah State University. She earned in B.S. in psychology from Haverford College and her M.S. from Utah State University. Her research and clinical interests are centralized around the use of transdiagnostic treatments, such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), for obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and related problems in children and adolescents.

Kehana Bonagura, M.A.
The New School for Social Research

Kehana Bonagura is a fifth year doctoral candidate in the clinical psychology program at The New School for Social Research. Her clinical interests include working with parents, members of the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC community, those experiencing bereavement, and children/adolescents who have a caregiver with severe mental illness. She also has an interest in sexual behavior and is committed to utilizing a sex-positive perspective within her work. For her dissertation, Kehana is conducting a mixed-methods study that examines the role that gender and race play within the development of attachment processes for those who identify as bisexual. Her research aims to underscore the unique experiences of those who are multiply marginalized based on their racial and sexual identities and explores whether a secure attachment can mitigate the effects of minority stress. She has a passion for providing culturally informed care to underserved populations using primarily a relational psychodynamic approach, while also integrating elements of mentalization-based therapy.

Ashleigh Rutherford, M.S., M.Phil.
Yale University

Ashleigh Rutherford is a fifth year doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at Yale University, where she studies the cognitive underpinnings of anhedonia in depression and anxiety using computational modeling and ecological momentary assessment. Her primary clinical interests center on the flexible implementation of evidence-based psychotherapies, with a particular focus on adapting these modalities to treat individuals from marginalized backgrounds more effectively. Ashleigh approaches treatment from a developmental lens and has a specific interest in transitional stages (e.g., emerging adulthood). She has experience using a broad range of treatment modalities, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and received intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) at Yale New Haven Hospital’s DBT Intensive Outpatient Program. Ashleigh has also been heavily involved in treatment, research, and advocacy efforts with the Yale Gender Program, and looks forward to continuing to support LGBTQIA+ youth, young adults, and their families by providing compassionate and affirming care. In her free time, Ashleigh can be found either at the pottery studio, hiking with her goldendoodle, Benji, or playing any number of pickup sports.

Catherine O’Brien, M.A.
Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University

Catherine O’Brien is a doctoral candidate at the Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis PhD program at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Union College and her master’s degree in Psychology from New York University. Her doctoral research is focused on the connection between physical and cognitive functioning in older adults. Specifically, she is interested in the construct of physical reserve and how one’s ability to resist age-related physical decline can predict adverse physical and cognitive outcomes. Clinically, Catherine is eager to continue her training in neuropsychological assessment across the lifespan with a particular emphasis on age-related disorders and movement disorders. In the future, she plans to complete a neuropsychology post-doctoral fellowship and pursue board certification in clinical neuropsychology.