Center for Survivors of Torture

Interns and Volunteers

CST has the additional support of interns, part-time staff, special programming coordinators and over 100 volunteers who annually provide support to the office and clients. These include high school and undergraduate students, as well as, a number of dedicated graduate students and professionals in fields such as dentistry, forensic psychology, human rights and law.

Summer 2007 Interns

Holly Guthrey graduated from the University of North Texas in May 2007 with a Bachelor's degree in International Studies with a focus on Peace Studies and a minor in French. She originally came to CST because of a human rights course that she took at UNT that opened her eyes to the kinds of political violence that exist in the world. "CST is a great organization to be a part of," Holly said, "because you get to meet so many great people from interesting places that you would probably never have a chance to talk to otherwise." After working at CST she plans to pursue a Master's Degree in Conflict Resolution and Human Rights at the University of Denver. She hopes to work in the field of international conflict resolution. She also plans to travel and learn as many languages as possible.

Kelly Rand is a senior Social Work/Religion double major at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. She is looking forward to graduating with her Bachelor in Social Work in May and is excited to start looking at Masters programs this fall. Kelly came to work at CST through the ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program. Her projects for the summer include helping plan UN Day on June 26, initiating the new email newsletter, creating a volunteer handbook, interacting with clients, organizing activities for clients and their families, and making coffee. Her favorite part of working at CST is the opportunity to meet wonderful people from a variety of countries.

Christopher Andrews-Waddington is a senior undergraduate student at the University of North Texas working on his Bachelor of Arts in anthropology. Christopher's major in anthropology together with his interest in human cultures and diversity led him to join the CST staff as an intern. He hopes to have a positive impact on the lives of the ethnically diverse people whom he has the opportunity to work at CST and learn more about different cultures in the process. Christopher helps with transporting clients to and from CST's Dallas office and compiles materials for conference presentations. He hopes to pursue his Master's degree in applied anthropology.

Karina Lopez-Montoya decided to work at CST because its mission to help people with diverse backgrounds that are in great need motivated her to volunteer. She is working on a project that will allow CST to expand its support of torture survivors in detention through supportive and uplifting postcards. She enjoys working with international clients and values how much she has learned at CST. Karina's goal is to increase her knowledge of foreign affairs and become an international peace mediator.

Previous Interns

In 2006-2007: CST has contracted two interns and two practicum students. We still have a limited number of openings for supervision of special projects. Contact Manuel Balbona for Ph.D. practicums, Sharmin DeMoss for internships, or Rena Taylor for volunteer opportunities.

In 2005-2006: Jeannie Whitman completed her practicum in the fall of 2005, and attended the National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs Data Collection Training in Florida. Jennifer Price, a native of Australia, interned in Urban Ministry and Community Relations. Gladys Valdez completed her PhD practicum in our Austin Outreach office with supervision provided by Dr. Balbona via web conferencing.

In the spring-summer of 2005: Jeannie Whitman continued her practicum and included significant use of testing material with torture survivors of other cultures, evaluating the usefulness and writing asylum reports. Amarie Carnett interned as a technical support person, advocacy and grant materials researcher, client relations and education provider.

In the fall of 2004: Lisel Morris worked as a PR intern from SMU. Rebecca Napier completed her project with Rev. DeMoss, A Caregiver's Guide to Secondary Traumatic Stress, and The Somali Bantu Pilot Project in which she learned Maay-Maay and taught ESL through experiential learning techniques. Jeannie Whitman began a year-long practicum in women's issues in torture treatment.

In the summer of 2004: Thomas Checkley and Nicole Mittenfelner worked with CST through Lilly Grants. Thomas Checkley worked on information technology and client services, and Nicole Mittenfelner worked as a development intern.

In the spring of 2004: Happy Rahman and Rebecca Napier, Austin College students, worked with us through Lilly Grants and made significant contributions to CST and the treatment of our clients. Happy Rahman worked with clients on Yoga Therapy, and Rebecca Napier worked with secondary traumatization in caregivers.

In the summer of 2003: Caroline Beasley, art therapy, and Brian Watkins, anthropology, worked with us through Austin College under Lilly Grants and made significant contributions to CST and the treatment of our clients. Brian completed a thesis on the retraumatization caused by the asylum seeking process. Caroline started the Pot Project in which clients paint in order to open up their imagination and feelings.

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