Rachel Gaydosh, a student in the School of Social Work, has been selected as an advanced clinical social work fellow in the Yale Child Study Center.

Gaydosh, who graduates this weekend, will begins her one-year fellowship in the center’s Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services (IICAPS) program on July 1.

The fellowship includes a stipend and comprehensive health care.

Founded in 1911 by Arnold Gesell, an early pioneer in the study of child development, the Yale Child Study Center is a multidisciplinary department in the Yale School of Medicine. Its IICAPS program provides clinical services for children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbances. The center collaborates with schools and other service providers with the goal of maintaining the at-risk child’s relationship with parents or other adult caregivers.

“The opportunity to work with this population interested me,” says Gaydosh. “That’s what initially sparked my interest, but doing more research I discovered the center’s long history of being invested in the child from an early age. I value the early intervention of children at-risk.”

Gaydosh says she hopes to develop a strong clinical skills set over the next year, honing her abilities to engage with families in ways that are “strength-based.”

“Looking at individuals, families, communities or even entire societies, a ‘strength-based’ approach identifies the resiliency within any system and makes it possible to bring out those strengths,” she says. “That’s something the School of Social Work has emphasized in my education that I can now put into practice.”