Division on South Asian Americans

The annual DoSAA Summer Fellowship Program (SFP) is geared towards graduate student members involved in mental health in any capacity (Ph.D., Psy.D., M.S., M.Ed., MFT, LSW, etc.) who have a passion and interest for South Asian/South Asian American mental health, including research among South Asian populations, leadership, and community building. Fellows will be paired with a mentor from the DoSAA community and will complete a small project related to South Asian American mental health. These projects may vary in issue or topic but will be used to further add to mental health resources for our South Asian American communities.

DoSAA membership is required for all participants. We will prioritize student applications of those experiencing challenges in seeking mentorship. This project will culminate in a final presentation via webinar during early Fall.

Fellow’s Qualifications:

• Currently a graduate student
• Create and communicate 1-2 structured goals for mentorship focus.
• Available to collaborate with their mentor via phone/virtual format ~ 2 – 4 hours/month for a total of at least 6 hours between program start and end dates.
• Complete a specific/short summer project (as discussed and decided collaboratively with mentor)
• Be available and willing to collaborate with other fellows (To engage in monthly fellowship calls and present their project via webinar in early Fall).

Mentor’s Qualifications:

• We welcome both early-career (including associated/pre-licensed) and mid-career professionals who have completed their graduate training (Ph.D., Psy.D., M.S., M.Ed., MFT, LSW, etc.) to apply to be mentors. Early-career professionals may support fellows who are in the early stages of their graduate program (e.g., Year 1 Master’s student, Years 1 – 3 Doctoral student).
• New this year: We welcome graduate students in the late stages of their graduate programs to mentor incoming and early-stage graduate students
• Willing to collaborate with a student fellow and commit to regular meetings via phone/virtual format (as agreed upon by mentor & mentee) for ~ 2-4 hours per month for the duration of the project.
• Available to check in with the Program leads for updates on project progress and to receive guidance and support in mentorship of the fellow’s project.
• Able to support your mentee in creating 1-2 structured goals and brainstorm general topics that will support their research and growth. (We will help provide some general topics you can choose from in case you are unsure of what to focus on).
• Be able and willing to provide mentorship to the student and support them in accessing resources to succeed in completing their summer project.
• Open to communicating their expectations to the program leads and reach out to them if they can no longer commit to the expectations of the mentorship (life happens, just let us know as soon as you can).