MIRECC / CoE
Transitioning Servicemember/Veteran and Suicide Prevention Center (TASC)
Our TASC clinical team is dedicated to improving the quality of clinical care provided to transitioning Veterans, particularly those at risk for suicide. Through our partnership with outpatient behavioral health services at James J. Peters VA Medical Center in Bronx, NY and a range of clinical trials, our team provides outpatient individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, suicide prevention planning, and case management services to dozens of Veterans throughout the New York city area. TASC also provides high-quality training in Veteran mental health to postdoctoral and mansters-level clinicians, thereby shaping the next generation of Veteran service providers.
Clinical Training Opportunities:
Doctoral Externship Program: The Transitioning Service Member / Veteran and Suicide Prevention Center (TASC), in partnership with VISN 2 MIRECC and the James J Peters VA Medical Center, will be offering a psychology externship program to doctoral psychology students in the greater New York City area in the 2022-2023 academic year. Through the program, students will gain training and experience in Veteran mental health care and program evaluation, with particular emphases on Veteran suicide prevention and Veteran criminal justice involvement.
Specific training experiences include: outpatient individual psychotherapy with Veterans; serving as a study clinician on ongoing clinical trials; clinical evaluations of Veterans participating in the Transitioning Service Member / Veteran Sponsorship Initiative (TSM/V-SI), supervised research, program evaluation of a local Veterans Treatment Court, co-leading a support group for transitioning Veterans, individual supervision, and group didactic training. Applicants are required to be enrolled in an APA-accredited program in the greater NYC area, in year 3+ of a doctoral psychology program, and with demonstrated interest in Veteran mental health, suicide prevention, criminal justice involvement, and/or program evaluation research. Interested students are encouraged to submit applications through the New York City Psychology Externship portal [link: https://nynjadot.apa.org/job/2022-2023-psychology-externship-in-veteran-mental-health-and-program-evaluation-bronx-new-york-0521] from January 10-17, 2022.
Postdoctoral Psychology Fellowship: Each year, the VISN 2 MIRECC partners with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to offer 1-2 postdoctoral psychologists the opportunity to grow their research and clinical acumen through a two-year, VA-funded fellowship. Fellows receive a primary appointment at James J Peters VA Medical Center in Bronx, New York and a secondary appointment at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, New York. Throughout the program, fellows partner with a member of the VISN 2 MIRECC faculty to identify training goals, expand clinical and research competencies, and develop an independent program of research focused on severe mental illness and/or suicide prevention. Potential mentors available through TASC include:
Marianne Goodman, MD
Dr. Goodman is a VA clinical research psychiatrist at James J Peters VAMC and VISN 17 CoE. Her research has focused on themes of suicide prevention among Veterans, management of emotion dysregulation and suicide risk, borderline personality disorder, and delivery of Dialectical Behavior Therapy within a VA setting. Ongoing projects include Project Life Force, a novel group intervention that integrates DBT emotion regulation skills and suicide prevention planning into a brief, group-based intervention for Veterans at risk for suicide; CALM for Families, a lethal means restriction training for family members of at-risk Veterans; and an investigation into the relations of traumatic brain injury and impulsivity to suicide risk.
Joseph Geraci, PhD
Dr. Geraci is a full-time VA clinical research psychologist at James J Peters VAMC and VISN 17 CoE. His research focuses on transitioning Veterans, treatment engagement, whole health initiatives, and program evaluation. Ongoing projects include the Transitioning Service Member/Veteran Sponsorship Initiative (TSM/V-SI), a nationwide program to connect transitioning service members and Veterans with trained peer sponsors to provide support throughout the military-to-civilian-transition; Veteran Cultural Competence Training, a nationwide training for healthcare, business, and government professionals to better engage with community-based Veterans; and MDMA-assisted therapy, a clinical trial investigating the benefits of MDMA within the context of brief psychotherapy for Veterans with PTSD.
Emily Edwards, PhD
Dr. Edwards is a full-time VA clinical research psychologist at James J Peters VAMC and part-time clinical instructor at Yale School of Medicine. Her research focuses on themes of justice-involvement, suicide, and personality disorders, particularly among military Veterans, and on transdiagnostic interventions to reduce risk for individuals affected by these difficulties. Ongoing projects include Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Justice-Involved Veterans, a group- and case management-based intervention for Veterans with current or recent criminal justice involvement; and the Westchester Veterans Treatment Court evaluation, a program evaluation of a local Veterans treatment court program.
