MONICA EGNER

I am a well-versed clinician with a strong international educational background. I was awarded a BA in Clinical Psychology in Mexico. I became a Licensed Psychologist and initiated my journey as a psychologist. I focused on individual therapy and family therapy at the University Clinic. I also became a professor for the Psychology program for 2 years and taught a variety of topics especially, abnormal psychology, Human Development, Therapeutic Interventions, Industrial Psychology, Psychometric testing’s, to mention, at the same time I volunteered at the Local Police to provide psychological service for victims of crime.

In 2016 I was awarded a Masters in Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio. While being in the program I did several internships, which allowed me to work with a wide variety of populations and sectors. By navigating through different sectors and populations I became more aware and cognizant about my strengths as a clinician to determine my future path, which led me to achieve my Doctorate in Psychology from Walden University this year.

My work experience as a graduate student was as an intern at the Sarabia Family Counseling Center from UTSA in which I conducted individual and family sessions in English and Spanish. Led group therapy sessions for court-mandated youth from Juvenile Justice and their families. Also provided comprehensive case management services, including creating treatment plans and connecting clients and families to appropriate resources. Followed by working for the Family Violence and Prevention Services from San Antonio, Texas in which I Conducted individual sessions for adults victims of domestic violence.

In my last internship at Connections Individual and Family Services, I initiated as an intern, and shortly after I was hired as a Therapist in which I developed myself personally and professionally. The population I worked with was adolescents at risk, from ages 3 to 18 years old. I conducted individual counseling for the youth and family therapy. Some of the cases were court mandates so I had a close relationship with the parole officers to ensure the youth was complying with the mandated individual counseling and family counseling. I also served as part of an on-call emergency response team for crisis intervention. This job included going to the youths' homes and assessing their living conditions, and attending to the family homes to intervene in the crisis and provide interventions and safety plans.

After that job I started working for 4 years in psychiatric hospitals, providing assessments to determine if the patients meet the criteria to be hospitalized by conducting psychological evaluations, suicide assessments, and interventions for the acute patients with had severe mental illness and decompensating. The population I worked with was adults with acute mental disorders. The most recurrent disorders I worked with were, manic with psychotic features, psychosis unspecified, substance abuse/withdrawals, major depressive disorders, self-harm, suicide attempts, human trafficking victims, victims of physical and sexual abuse, crisis intervention, individual counseling, group therapy, and family therapy. Besides the clinical duties, I also managed, oversaw, and coordinated activities from interns and students teaching them the intake process, interventions, how to facilitate group therapy and to maintain a positive environment, having weekly meetings to discuss the learning curve of the interns, and brainstorming.
I also complied with the mandatory regulations and documentation, creating treatment planning, goal setting, case reviews, engaging with the community to acquire the necessary resources for the patients after discharge, as well working actively with the medical team, Psychiatrist, nurses and technicians. Working in the acute unit of the psychiatric hospitals was very rewarding and one of the best professional experiences I ever had because of the complexity of the cases and to be challenged every day.

After working in the psychiatric unit I moved to close to my family and worked with
ORR (Office of Refugee and Resettlement), this job was directed only for male adolescents with mental diagnoses mainly severe trauma from their country of origin and defiance. One of my duties was designated to attend crisis interventions and being on call, case management for reunification, step down, transference to foster care, or return to home country.

This job was rewarding due to the life the youth endured and managed to cross-countries from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. I assessed the trauma and emotional distress caused by the journey from the youth’s home country to the United States. Managed to provide a safe and secure environment for their personal growth and to provide therapeutic interventions, conducted group therapy, individual counseling, safety planning, psychosocial assessments, suicide assessments, treatment planning, case reviews, and engaging with outside government agencies having weekly meetings to discuss the youth's progress.

My favorite approach is CBT and solution focus, however, my background taught me to adjust to every patient/client's needs, every client has unique experiences, unique needs, and as a therapist, I have to adjust my approach to what suits best for my client not imposing a specific approach.