Wake Forest Univ.
After 5 years advocating for victims of domestic violence at Safe On Seven, Forsyth County Hall of justice (2011-2016), I began my journey at Wake Forest University and obtained my Masters of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in August 2017. I completed my practicum experience at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (Summer 2016) providing Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) to trauma patients with risky substance use issues.
I completed my internship at PQA Healthcare, Inc. providing Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) to individuals with severe and persistent co-occurring mental heath and substance use disorders. Today, I am a nationally certified counselor (NCC), and in the process of getting my professional counselor associate license in North Carolina.
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PQA Healthcare, Inc.
Since completing my internship at PQA Healthcare, Inc. (Aug. 2016-May 2017), I have continued to work as Qualified Mental Health Professional providing crisis intervention, case management, medication management support, psychosocial and psychiatric rehabilitation, Illness Management Recovery (IMR) group therapy, individual, couple, family, career, and addiction counseling to individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, including:
schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, depressive, anxiety disorders, neuro-developmental, neuro-cognitive, post traumatic stress, eating, conduct, substance use and personality disorders.
In the coming months, I also plan on starting a Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) group for ACT clients with co-occurring Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). |
Eliza's Helping Hands
In December 2015, I partnered with colleagues and created the CARE program (Creating Access to Relationship Enhancement) at Eliza's Helping Hands, Inc. (EHH), a domestic violence (DV) program offering emergency, advocacy, and long-term support services to DV victims and their families,
in partnerships with the COOL (Creating Opportunities for Others to Learn) program at Community Intervention & Educational Services, serving court-ordered DV offenders, the Winston Salem Police Department, and other community partners (i.e. Next Step Ministries DV Shelter, Kernersville, NC).
Today, I continue to serve this vulnerable population as support group facilitator, CARE program director, and provisional Board Chair of EHH.
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This 15-page literature review describes the prevalence of PTSD among IPV victims, evaluates evidence-based treatment options, and demonstrates my ability to review articles and integrate them into a sophisticated review.
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This 8-page case study using the protagonist of academy-award movie, The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx, demonstrates my interest in and ability to conceptualize a case of severe and persistent schizophrenia. |
Click on the following link: voicethread.com/share/7112769/ To view a narrated 5-slide Voice Thread presentation on the efficacy of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) culturally modified to better meet the needs of Latino adolescents with substance use disorders, demonstrating my ability to stay current with the literature on CBT, consider developmental factors, remain sensitive to aspects of the cross-cultural helping relationship, as I concern myself with ethical and effective groupwork procedures and treatments of culturally diverse clients, according to CACREP core competencies. |
This 17-page paper reviews the latest research on the understanding and treating IPV ethically, in a culturally-sensitive way, while incorporating advocative considerations for sensitive, ethical, and advocative practice, and provides a case study, This work demonstrates my desire to stay abreast with the most current research on the topic of IPV, and attests to my ability to incorporate new knowledge into an ethical, culturally sensitive and advocative practice.
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This 12-page paper synthesizes information from SC state laws, state licensing board and the ACA Code of Ethics governing the licensing process and the practices of informed consent, confidentiality, and duty to warn for legal and ethical practice of counseling. This project demonstrates my ability to research and synthesize state law, state licensing board requirements, and the ACA Code of Ethics so as to maintain a professional, ethical, and legal practice.
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This poster presentation displays the findings of the literature review described above, demonstrating my interest in multiple information delivery modes for the varying audiences (i.e. other counselors, professionals, the public) interested in learning about the prevalence of PTSD among IPV victims, and currently available evidence-based treatment options.
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This artifact demonstrates my commitment to academic and professional excellence in the profession of counseling, as leader, advocate, and practitioner.
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Click the following link: voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/6733674
To view a narrated 9-slide Voice Thread presentation on the realist, case study, and critical ethnographic research designs, forms, purpose, preparation, data gathering, analysis, synthesis, and reporting methods, followed by a potential research problem ― the stigma around IPV ― which may be addressed using findings from a critical ethnographic research design. This work demonstrates my passion for treating societal issues (i.e. sexism, racism, ableism), and for empowering vulnerable and marginalized populations by giving them a voice to challenge the status quo. |
This 1-page reflection discusses “counseling at its best,” its revolutionary qualities, and reveals some of my personal affinities for the practice of counseling. This paper also demonstrates my natural inclinations for a “revolutionary” type of leadership, advocacy, and counseling practice.
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Click on the following link: wfu.voicethread.com/share/5957342/
A 15-slide narrated VoiceThread presentation, entitiled "My Strengths as a Person" and a Counselor highlighting my personal and professional strengths, which have served me, and continue to serve my clients today.
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This 15-page analysis of my personal sociocultural identity development demonstrates my understanding of sociocultural identity development models, and ability to apply this knowledge in order to gain a high level of personal cultural awareness.
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This 1-page reflection, entitled "Emotional Mindfulness," discusses the enhanced emotional mindfulness that my clinical mental health counseling (CMHC) training has elicited in me, providing a glimpse of my personal growth and emotional development, which enables me to utilize the technique of emotional mindfulness effectively in my clinical practice.
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Domestic Violence Anonymous
This 7-page program design and support group curriculum based on evidence-based and IPV-specific crisis intervention, advocative counseling strategies, and the free and self-sustaining sponsor system found in the AA model is meant to raise public awareness about IPV, meet the various needs of IPV victims through psychoeducation, empowerment, and psychological healing, and to promote its proliferation at the community, state, nation, and international levels.
This artifact is an original idea inspired by my personal, educational, and experiential learning with IPV, and demonstrates my commitment to the compassionate service of a vulnerable population, and attests to my sense of social responsibility in the fight against this widespread social problem at the local, state, national, and international levels. |
Click on the following link: www.pwws.org/event/stephanie-gimenez-non-profit-elizas-helping-hands/
An event page of PSWS ― the local chapter of the National Association for Professional Women (NAPW) ― featuring me as guest speaker on the issue of IPV at the national, state, and local levels, and promoting the CARE program I co-created November 2015. This page is one example of my advocacy experiences, and demonstrates my level of commitment to the compassionate service of abuse victims, and sense of social responsibility in fighting against a widespread social problem by raising public awareness at the local, state, and national levels, and serving this population at the local level.
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This 3-page reflection on the advocative role of mental health providers in the court system is based on my 5-year experience as advocate for victims of intimate partner violence (IPV), and demonstrates my commitment to the compassionate and advocative service of my clients, and my sense of social responsibility in fostering their wellbeing by removing barriers at the local and state levels.
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