Ms. Subasri Ashok
Subasri Ashok. MSc is a clinical psychology doctoral candidate pursuing her PsyD in Clinical Psychology at Long Island University, New York. She specialises in trauma work both within her research and clinical work. She has worked in different clinical settings such as Stonybrook University Hospital, Sagamore Psychiatric Centre and Yale Esteem Lab as a clinical psychologist in training. She is currently an intern at Zuckerhillside Hospital specialising in trauma work and DBT with adolescents, young adults and adults with a special focus on women's mental health. Subasri's extensive knowledge encompasses various fields, demonstrating her commitment to comprehending the intricate inter-relationships among psychology, trauma, mental health, culture, and the global distribution of mental health resources. Her interests lie in complex trauma and international mental health. She has presented at numerous conferences such as ABCT and APA and is involved in multiple international psychology groups.
Examining impacts of a virtual international mentorship program for psychologists
Following the successful weekly mentorship consultation between a psychologist from an APA accredited clinical doctoral program and a Tanzanian psychologist (Feindler & Kimangale, 2019), the awareness of the tremendous need for training and supervision for Tanzanian psychologists was realized. The Tanzanian Mentorship Program (TMP) was developed to enhance and implement CBT strategies and discuss clinical cases while enhancing multicultural competencies about clinical work. Using an internet-based platform, advanced US PsyD graduate students and Master-level Tanzanian psychologists worked virtually together for the academic year. This paper is a description of the form and functioning of this program with highlights on challenges faced in international mentorship. Individual weekly meetings with a focus on individual client consultations have occurred over 4 years. Overall the program held 383 individual mentorship sessions. At the start and end of the mentorship year, mentors (n=21) and mentees (n=17) completed measures including the Evidence Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS: Aarons, 2004) and the California Brief Multicultural Competence Scale (CBMC: Gamst et al., 2004). Independent samples t-tests were conducted to compare mentors and mentees on baseline scores. Data from the CBMCS indicated differences where mentors scored significantly higher on multicultural awareness than mentees. There were also differences at baseline on subscales of the EBPAS where mentees reported significantly higher levels of Openness to evidence-based practice as well as Divergence from evidence-based practice in their current practice than mentors. Post-training data will be coded, and paired samples t-tests will be conducted to pre-post changes in each group. Results are discussed with implications for international mentorship, multicultural training for US graduate students, and attitudes towards evidence-based practice considering different cultures.