Work Abroad Program in L'Italia

Hello!

My name is Amanda, and I am currently a third-year psychology major at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York. This summer, I am required to take an internship in order to fulfill a significant portion of my degree requirements. After attempting several job applications, an opportunity presented itself through an Italian professor at my educational institution. This professor is the host of a faculty-led work abroad program called A Door to Italy which connects students with employers in Genoa (Genova), Italy.

After discussing my career goals and interests — becoming a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT) — we were able to locate a professor at the University of Genoa who is interested in working with me. Working together, I could learn more about maladaptive cognitive beliefs and how they impact couples and families in a way that leads them to divorce and broken family systems. Then, that knowledge can be applied to my future career as an LMFT to help couples and families in distress.

This has been a goal of mine for a long time, and working abroad in Italy and having the ability to meet new people and experience new cultures will help increase my cultural sensitivity which, in turn, will allow me to help even more couples and families from diverse backgrounds. This is especially true since I am a deaf individual, and improving my understanding of familial relations can allow me to help deaf couples and families in need as well; deaf individuals already have limited resources for reaching out to a deaf therapist who can help them with any issue they have, and the resources are even more sparse when it comes to finding a deaf therapist that specializes in martial and familial discourse.

Growing up, I have seen my parents go through divorce and that divorce had a huge impact on me as the older sibling since I had to be a "second parent" for my younger sister to help my mom as she got thrown into the single-parenting life. Not only that, but the divorce has been hard on my little sister as well since she grew up without ever knowing who her father was. Having some first-hand experience of how disruptive to the family system a divorce can be and how much it can cause emotional devastation, I seek to be one of the many LMFTs who work their hardest to bring the divorce rate down — especially within communities of minorities, including the deaf community.

The money gathered from this fundraiser will be fully invested in the payment of the work abroad program, which costs more than an average college student can afford. If there is any excess money left over not used to pay for the program, the money will be donated to the Italian Association of Psychology and Psychotherapy Onlus (l'Associazione Italiana Psicologia e Psicoterapia Onlus; AIPEP), a non-profit organization made up of professionals in mental health who work as volunteers. AIPEP focuses on the spread of knowledge, treatment, and direct services for those who lack the resources and information to get the help they may want and need.

Thank you for reading, and please spread the word!

Amanda M. Brown