Five minutes with...Jackie Bemcivenga
Icebreaker Conversations with the Mental Health Counseling Class of 2015
The current students in Touro's Mental Health Counseling (MHC) program range in age, background, and lifestyle, but they all share a desire to become excellent mental health counselors. Our students have a commitment to community service and a passion for improving the lives of those around them. Take a few seconds to learn why Jackie chose MHC.
Name: Jackie Bemcivenga
Hometown: South Huntington, NY
Internship placement: Mount Sinai Psychiatry
Favorite part of internship: In addition to working with mental health counselors, I work with many doctors, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists. Since it’s an inpatient unit, I see the different cases and treatments for illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, etc. from a different perspective—the MD one—than the therapy-based perspective we learn in school.
Valuable classroom lesson: When beginning a crisis intervention session, first empathize with your client and let him or her speak to you. Be open-minded. Every client is different, so the approach to take with one may be different than the approach to take for the other.
