Chicago Professor Uses Psychology To Help Underserved Prisoners
There are a variety of reasons why some people may choose to treat or avoid treatment for mental health issues. But what happens when a segment of the population is dependent on others to receive treatment? In the case of prisoners, psychologists may run into new challenges for up to 480,000 mentally ill adults in state and federal prisons and local jails.
"It was challenging to apply one's skill set on a very different population that is kind of invisible and where one has to work within the legal framework and within the parameters of the code system as well," said Dr. Shaifali Sandhya, Professor and Clinical Psychologist at The Adler School.
"It was challenging because one has to tweak one's approach to providing therapy in a group therapy setting or with a client who has maybe an extensive history of abuse."
Sandhya received her master's from University of Cambridge, England and a Ph.D. at University of Chicago. Since then she's used her education to help with interventions for the "vulnerable and impoverished."
During a post-doctoral training, she provided psychotherapy to criminals in a medium/high-security prison. Sandhya is passionate about aspiring and current psychologists reaching out to underrepresented groups.
"Classes on diversity, international psychology and systems training are being overlooked, an unfortunate trend," said Sandhya. "This is a really important issue with consequences for our marginalized folks — the elderly, LGBT and children. If professionals in the industry neglect to study how social forces can impact phenomena like high school dropout rates, single motherhood, low entry of women in technology or the breakdown of family structure — it can lead to ineffective policy responses, and further immobilize the vulnerable amongst us."
Sandhya has also completed clinical studies in numerous settings, including forensics, family therapy, courtrooms and hospitals. She believes that solid training is a priceless accomplishment.
"Solid training in courses that teach you to conduct empirical work with vulnerable populations will make you a successful candidate to advocate for them. Reaching out to provide pro bono services to community, national and international organizations will also build your expertise."
Shamontiel L. Vaughn is a professional journalist who has work featured in AXS, Yahoo!, Chicago Defender and Chicago Tribune. She's been an Examiner since 2009 and currently writes about 10 categories on Examiner.com.