Emily Pena - CUNY Intern

Working with Under the Tree Counseling through CUNY Career Launch has been one of
the most valuable parts of my undergrad year. I came in without knowing exactly what to expect from an administrative role at a mental health practice, and left with a much better understanding of how a practice like this runs and how much thought goes into making care accessible to
clients.
I created a series of client-facing pamphlets on topics like resume and cover letter
writing, coping skills for anxiety, life coaching versus therapy, and a bilingual mental health
resource guide, along with intake and self-assessment forms like a new client intake form and a session progress tracker. Designing materials that had to be clear and usable for real clients, not just look good on paper, taught me a lot about communicating clearly with people who might be anxious or unfamiliar with these topics.
The projects that meant the most were the ones tied to my major: a speech and language
developmental milestones pamphlet, a matching screening checklist, and a guide to diagnoses and developmental and linguistic disorders. Building these pushed me to translate what I'velearned in my Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology coursework into something a parentcould actually understand, and gave me a clearer picture of how an SLP fits into a larger careteam.
I'm grateful to CUNY Career Launch for the opportunity to work with Under the Tree
Counseling. It gave me hands-on experience applying my coursework outside the classroom and made me feel much more confident in the direction I'm headed for my career.