The Student View: Introducing Amanda Bennett and a Focus on Student Engagement

The Student View: Introducing Amanda Bennett and a Focus on Student Engagement

By Amanda Bennett
SCCAP Student Representative

I am honored to join the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP) leadership team and introduce myself as the new SCCAP Student Representative for the 2023-2025 term. I received my B.A. in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Missouri. Currently, I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Florida, under the mentorship of Dr. Joy Gabrielli, as well as my Master’s in Public Health.

Throughout my academic career, I have always been interested in research on childhood adversity and its impact on youth wellbeing. Growing up, I found that working with children was something I greatly valued and, as I have advanced through my academic research career, I have continued to explore these areas. As an undergraduate research assistant, I worked in two psychology labs that allowed me to gain experience in both developmental and clinical psychology. I was involved in research examining parent-child relationships and their impact on child socioemotional development, as well as research aiming to improve youth mental health services in community-based settings. As an undergraduate researcher, I was also involved in the McNair Scholars program which allowed me to complete my own research study to further explore how childhood adversity and social support impacts adult mental health and substance use. My experience with the McNair Scholars program was incredibly rewarding, as I not only learned valuable research skills but also confirmed my desire to continue work on childhood adversity. At the University of Florida, I have been able to further explore my research interests in child maltreatment and intervention efforts which have driven me to pursue a degree in public health in addition to clinical psychology. Currently, in graduate school, my research primarily examines youth reported perpetrators of child maltreatment among youth in foster care, as well as intervention efforts utilized by child welfare services for youth in foster care.

SCCAP’s emphasis on dissemination of evidence-based practices are well aligned with my own personal research mission. I am thrilled to join such an organization, and contribute to its initiatives. This year I look forward to working with my fellow Student Representative, Ayotola Onipede, on increasing the visibility of SCCAP and making SCCAP the go-to professional home for students in clinical child and adolescent psychology! We will work with our fantastic committee members to continue to advance mentorship opportunities between undergraduate, graduate, early-and late-stage professionals within SCCAP.

We are also excited to explore strategies related to increasing student membership, with a focus on active engagement. In particular, we would like to increase our reach to undergraduate members and this year we plan to compile resources specifically for these members (e.g., resources guiding the graduate school application process). We will also be organizing online panels geared toward graduate student professional development and applying to internship. Lastly, there will be a continued focus on networking opportunities and use of our social media to keep student members connected during these virtual times! As always, we encourage student members to contact their student representatives if they have suggestions or ideas for improving existing initiatives or new programming. We look forward to a productive and enriching year!