Services Offered

Wednesdays 3:15-4:45 p.m. via Zoom

This group is for individuals looking to expand their awareness of themselves in relation to self and others. The focus is on themes such as trust, intimacy, and boundaries. If you struggle with interpersonal patterns such as not knowing how to communicate your needs/feelings, putting others’ needs ahead of your own, and/or shying away from getting close to people, then this group might be for you. It is a unique opportunity for honest (& sometimes challenging) exploration of personal and interpersonal process in an emotionally supportive environment. It is also an opportunity to practice new ways of being in connection with yourself and others.

Group co-facilitators: Dr. Inez Strama, Supervising Clinical Psychologist for Student Counseling and​ Molly Finkel, MDEd., Clinical Fellow

Tuesdays 3-4 p.m. via Zoom

This is a group for master’s students working on their theses & capstone projects. Students from all programs, at all stages in the process, are welcome. You are not alone! This is a space for you to give and receive emotional peer support during a time in your academic journey that can often feel lonely and isolating. You may also benefit from the accountability, learn practical strategies, and hear how others are navigating the process. This is NOT a peer writing and/or editing group.

Group Facilitator: Dr. Inez Strama, Supervising Clinical Psychologist for Student Counseling

Mondays 4-5 p.m. via Zoom

This is a support group for doctoral students working on their dissertations. Students from all programs, at all stages are welcome. This is a space for you to work on your dissertation with other students and to learn practical strategies in navigating the process. 

Group co-facilitators: Dr. Bob Hatcher, Director of Wellness Center and Courtney Townsend, Clinical Fellow

Mondays 1:45 p.m.-3:00 p.m. via Zoom

This is a group for graduate student parents. It’s hard enough to manage the usual stress of graduate student life. Juggling parenting and all your other responsibilities on top of that? What a challenge! You are not alone!

Group co-facilitators: Dr. Nicole Benedicto-Elden, Assistant Director for Student Counseling and Annie Egleson, Clinical Fellow

Thursdays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. via Zoom

This group addresses the unique stresses graduate students often face, including multiple responsibilities, academic pressure, concerns about the job market, and financial responsibilities. These stresses exist alongside the potentially exciting challenge of developing identities as new scholars in students’ chosen fields.

In this group, students are also welcome to discuss life issues outside of school such as family of origin issues, friendship and romantic relationship dynamics, stressors of living in New York, etc.

Group co-facilitators: Dr. Arielle Shanok, Deputy Director of Wellness Center for Student Counseling and Kendell Doyle, Clinical Fellow

Tuesdays 12-1 p.m. via Zoom

Graduate school can be exciting and exhilarating; it can also be a source of stress. For graduate students who identify as LGBTQ, there may be additional stressors connected to the academic and social demands of graduate life. Do you worry about coming out in your classroom or department? Or do you worry about being out, even before you open your mouth? How do you manage instances of homophobia or heterosexism in school? How do you nurture and sustain your personal relationships, while facing the very real pressures of academic life? What are the ways in which the multiple dimensions of your identity (sexual orientation, gender, class, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation) intersect, and how does this come up in the context of graduate school?

Group co-facilitators: Dr. Arielle Shanok, Deputy Director of Wellness Center for Student Counseling and Shiyun Chen, Clinical Fellow

Wednesdays 12-1 p.m. via Zoom

Being a Black-identified graduate student can be a disorienting and marginalizing experience. Have you been feeling physically exhausted or emotionally fatigued? Are you having trouble concentrating or finding it difficult to maintain your academic workload? Do you notice yourself ruminating about certain interactions, wondering if they were racially charged? Do you ever have the feeling that you do not belong in your graduate program? 

Additionally, for many, the heightened focus on race and race relations over the past year has exacerbated existing historical challenges posing increased obstacles to navigate within graduate school. You might find yourself feeling isolated and questioning how you will be able to navigate this journey alone. This group is an academic support space designed to offer Black-identified students the space to process thoughts and feelings, get feedback and support on their experiences, develop organization skills and self-care strategies, all while building community.

Group co-facilitators: Elisa Cameron-Niang, LMHC and Gabriella Robinson, M.A., Clinical Fellows

Tuesday 12-1 p.m. via Zoom

Being an Asian-identified graduate student can be a unique experience for a variety of reasons. If you are an Asian international student, you may be grappling with a vastly different culture and academic setting. You may be asking yourself - how do I interact with the faculty? How do I make friends and network?  What does critical thinking even mean?  Being an Asian-American, you may notice yourself ruminating about certain interactions, wondering if they were racially charged? You may be feeling physically exhausted or emotionally fatigued. You may feel isolated or alone and want to seek support. 

For many Asian graduate students, recent events have exacerbated existing challenges and posed entirely new obstacles within their graduate programs. For example, fear, anxiety and anger may now be present for some due to the anti-Asian discrimination and assaults exacerbated by COVID-19. You may find yourself feeling isolated and questioning how you will be able to navigate this journey alone! ​This group is an academic support group designed to offer Asian-identified students the space to process thoughts and feelings, get feedback and support on individual and collective experiences, develop organizational skills and self-care strategies, all while building community.

Group co-facilitators: Tingyun Tseng, M.A. and Yasmine Awais, LCAT, Clinical Fellows

Mondays 4-5 p.m. via Zoom

Congratulations! You’re the first in your family to go to graduate school. And yet...

Navigating graduate school as a first-gen student can be complex. This group offers an affirming space for you to build community, support each other, and share your feelings about this unique experience. Themes may include: managing the impostor syndrome and self-doubt; learning and perhaps challenging the unwritten rules of academia; juggling financial stress and work-life balance; feeling misunderstood by family, professors, or peers; identifying strengths associated with being a first-gen student and translating them into action and empowerment. Join us!

Group Facilitator: Dr. Inez Strama, Supervising Clinical Psychologist for Student Counseling

Fridays 3:45-4:45 p.m. via Zoom

The Grief Support Group is for graduate students who have lost a loved one in recent years and would like a supportive space to grieve. We know how hard it can be to carry on with your many roles and responsibilities after a major loss. Setting aside time to grieve with others who understand can help you heal. In the group, you will be invited to speak about your loved one (at your own pace), about the impacts of the loss and about navigating the broad range of feelings and physical sensations that can be present. There is no one right way to grieve and we will honor the range of ways that each member is journeying through their loss. While there are many kinds of losses that bring up grief, this group is specifically for those whose loved ones have passed away. If you want to find out whether this group could be a good fit for you, please request services at the Wellness Center indicating your interest in the group. One of the group co-facilitators will reach out to you to schedule a time to meet.

Group co-facilitators: Arielle Shanok, PhD, Deputy Director of Wellness Center for Student Counseling and Erzulie Coquillon, JD, MA, Clinical Fellow

This workshop aims to empower students to manage their levels of procrastination in graduate school. Students will develop a better understanding of the different types of procrastination and the factors that maintain these behaviors. Students will also learn useful techniques and strategies to overcome procrastination activities.
Facilitated by Dr. Michelle Chu and Tema Watstein, M.A.

Are you feeling “burnt out” from writing your dissertation? Are you rethinking your commitment to your dissertation topic? Do you feel disconnected from the excitement you once felt about the work that you do? 
 
If you answered “YES!” to any of these questions, this workshop is for you! Join us to rediscover your passion for and reclaim your commitment to your research. There, you will have the opportunity to reflect on your experience, meet others sharing in your struggle, and refresh your perspective. 

Facilitated by Arielle Freedman, M.S. of Student Counseling Services.

Within this workshop, graduate students will learn about the concept of race based trauma and the corresponding mental health symptoms that they might be experiencing while operating in the world with their numerous minority identities. The workshop will speak about race-based trauma in the context of current events such as the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, and COVID-19. The facilitators will provide tools to assist in gaining awareness about the impact that race based trauma has on the mental health of BIPOC individuals, and will offer coping mechanisms as a means of reducing distress and receiving increased support within their personal and educational community. The workshop will also speak to the ways in which allies and confederates can be supportive of their friends/family members/colleagues/etc. of color who experience race-based trauma within their daily lives. Students will have the opportunity to discuss, process, and connect on their experiences within a safe space.

This workshop will be led by Dr. Ranjana Srinivasan of Nascent Consulting and Dave Cazeau, LCSW of Student Counseling Services at The Graduate Center.

COVID Got You Overdrinking?

Whether overimbibing is new for you or it’s an old habit flaring up as a result of boredom, uncertainty, anxiety, fill-in-the-blank, the good news is, you can learn to reduce your drinking to healthier levels by practicing some mindful drinking techniques.
 
Join Beej Christie Karpen of Insight Out Coaching in this 90-minute experiential workshop. Beej, a Certified Coach, holds a Certification in Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, a modality of working with addiction and habit change that empowers the client and includes moderation as a viable goal. Beej is the creator of Conscious Drinking 101: A 4-Session Group Coaching Workshop.

This workshop is centered on the experiences of BIPOC graduate students.

Imposter syndrome is pervasive among graduate students and characterized by students’ belief that they are undeserving of being in graduate school and a feeling that they are “a fraud.”  This often leads to anxiety and depression which makes completing an advanced degree even more daunting.  This is particularly salient for some BIPOC graduate students who enter graduate school already feeling that their experiences are not represented by the faculty who teach them and fearing that they will further be underestimated, misunderstood and marginalized. The presenters will discuss how race-based trauma, including racial battle fatigue, police brutality, and intergenerational trauma, compound the challenge for students from these marginalized groups.  Participants will have the opportunity to personalize the information presented by discussing strategies to reduce and manage the negative impact of the Imposter Syndrome.

There is no question that we have been experiencing a pivotal, paradigm-shifting time for the world, and collectively we will be experiencing its ripple effects for years to come. The collective grief and anxiety of a global pandemic and the impacts of pre-existing conditions such as racism and systemic oppression cannot be underestimated. We have been continually called in and challenged to be in deep and radical relationship to the nature of impermanence. To meet this call, we must lean into practices that can support our moment-to-moment experience. In this experiential workshop you will learn the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation and how to work with whatever arises within your internal experience and to meet the moment with more ease and spaciousness.

Are you feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Does it feel like you’re always somewhere else, ruminating about the past or worrying about the future? Are you engaging in behaviors to manage stress that you would like to change?

Mindfulness is a practice of learning to attend to the present moment with more acceptance. It is a systematic way of slowing down, observing one’s reactions, and relating to experiences with greater ease and compassion. Mindfulness has been shown to enhance well-being by reducing the impact of stress and helping people cope with symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition, mindfulness can be applied to managing urges and cravings to use substances or other problematic behaviors such as self-injury and overeating.

This workshop will focus on providing a safe space for participants to examine racial microaggressions that have occurred while in graduate school and to identify and develop strategies to address ongoing interpersonal discrimination. A combination of lecture and experiential exercises will be utilized to facilitate this discussion. Participants can expect to develop a deeper understanding of racial microaggressions and microintervention strategies for addressing them.

In this workshop you’ll learn simple yet effective techniques for reducing stress, anxiety, and the sense of being overwhelmed from a whole-body perspective. We’ll look at how sleep, diet, time management, self-care, communication, meditation, and breathing practices can help improve mood and calm your nervous system. You’ll come away with easy tools to implement in daily life and to help you get through the holidays and finals season with a little (or a lot) more peace of mind. 

Does your adviser seem to be avoiding you? Are your adviser’s expectations of you unclear or do they seem unrealistic? Is your adviser really the best fit for you? Your relationship with your adviser is vital to your success and well-being in grad school. This workshop will address: how to choose an adviser, how to build and maintain a working relationship with your adviser, and what to do when problems occur.

Where does your stress live? In your shoulders? In your impatience with loved ones? In between you and a good night of sleep? This workshop will provide strategies to help you identify and manage the unavoidable stress of graduate student life. Ways of moderating perfectionism, a common contributor to stress in grad students, will be addressed.

Nicole Elden, Psy.D., Assistant Director of Student Counseling Services, discusses how feelings of stress, worry and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic may be affecting you in new and challenging ways, and provides some strategies which may help you cope.

For many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) people, strength and healing is cultivated in community with other LGBTQ people. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, many of us are struggling with a sense of aloneness and social isolation, are coming up against challenges in our relationships, are back in our childhood homes, or are far away from those who affirm and celebrate us. 

Additionally, many transgender and gender non-conforming folks are without the resources necessary to cope with increased experiences of gender dysphoria. Presented by the Director of Kip's Division of Gender and Sexuality, this workshop provides a space for LGBTQ students to connect with one another, find support and care in-community, and identify ways to cope with the unique challenges they're experiencing during this pandemic.

If you’ve experienced discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, you are not alone. Numerous incidents of anti-Asian discrimination, such as verbal harassment, physical assaults, or shunning, have been reported nationally and globally. This workshop aims to provide a safe space for Asian students to share their personal experiences, support one another, and discuss ways to manage different forms of discrimination during and after this pandemic.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live and limited our access to many of the things and people that help us feel supported and secure in our everyday lives. Adjusting to our "new normal" is a challenge we all face in unique ways, and an ongoing process of self-compassion and care. This workshop aims to provide a safe space for students to share their experiences, support and connect with one another, and discuss ways to manage the changes we are facing and the emotional stress​ that may accompany them.

Despite early research showing that COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting communities of color, it often feels like our mental and physical wellbeing is not a priority within the healthcare system. Due to historical trauma and ongoing discrimination and marginalization, we have long faced structural systems that have failed us. Now we find ourselves again navigating additional barriers during this pandemic and in our fight to address a broken criminal justice system. This workshop will create a safe space for participants to examine the impact of the current global pandemic and racial battle fatigue on our mental wellbeing and discuss ways to care for ourselves during this difficult time.