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Angelica Briggs ‘16, who is pursuing a master’s degree in Clinical and Counseling Psychology at William Paterson University, has earned a $10,000 fellowship through the American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program. The STAY fellowship (Services for Transition Age Youth) is designed for master’s-level ethnic minority students whose prior experience and career goals suggest they will positively contribute to the mental health service needs of ethnic and racial minority youth and their families.
The STAY fellowship, which provides training opportunities and funding for educational purposes, ultimately aims is to reduce health disparities among ethnic minorities in the United States.
After graduation, Briggs hopes to work with transition age youth – those between 16 and 25 years old – in low-income areas. She is especially interested in working with immigrant youth, and working in areas that have high rates of undocumented immigrant populations.
Briggs has had some experience with this type work already. She has spent the past year volunteering her time to facilitate Spanish-language group therapy sessions for recently immigrated LatinX students at a public school in Paterson, New Jersey.
Briggs graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology from WP, having completed the clinical neuropsychology honors program.
“One of the greatest benefits of being awarded the STAY fellowship,” she says, “is that it is providing me with a lifetime network of other professionals focused on ethnic minority mental health.”
WP psychology professors Bruce Diamond and Pei-Wen Winnie Ma are serving as her advisors and mentors during the fellowship.
