Senior Reflections from the Dwight Hall Community Mental Health Fellowship

The Community Mental Health Fellowship was launched in 2018 through a collaboration between the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) and Dwight Hall, welcoming an inaugural cohort of seven Yale undergraduates. The Fellowship was created to support both research and community-driven initiatives while cultivating student interest in public health education and careers. 

Founded in 1966, CMHC is a partnership between Yale University and the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Each year, it provides comprehensive mental and behavioral health care to thousands of low-income residents in New Haven. 

Since its founding, the Community Mental Health Fellowship has expanded to include 24 students, evenly divided between two distinct tracks: service and clinical research. Students in the service track participate in programs and initiatives such as Outpatient Rehabilitation, Street Psychiatry, Behavioral Health Homes, early psychosis intervention, Assertive Community Treatment, and population health efforts in collaboration with the City of New Haven’s Office of Community Mental Health Initiatives. The clinical research track engages 12 students in clinical research teams where they learn empathic interviewing through direct interaction with people affected by mental illness, ways of understanding symptoms from both the scientific and lived-experience perspective, and skills for conducting clinical research in ways that engage problems that matter most to patients and their families. On both tracks, Fellows are closely mentored by interdisciplinary mental healthcare professionals who provide support for exploration of a wide range of career paths. 

The service track is led by Kyle Pedersen ’02 M.A.R., CMHC Director of Organizational Health and Director of the CMHC Foundation and co-founder of the Fellowship. The clinical research track is led by Sarah Fineberg M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Yale Department of Psychiatry and Attending Psychiatrist on the outpatient service at the CMHC. 

Read on to hear from graduating seniors reflecting on their experiences in the program: 

Goeun Lee ’25, Service Track: 

“The compassion and humility of the clinicians at CMHC inspire me. [This fellowship] exposed me to serious mental illnesses and the difficulties that many patients go through, such as substance abuse, comorbid mental illnesses, alienation from family, and poverty.”  

Karen Ayoub ’25, Research Track:  

“I am grateful for the opportunities and resources I have received through Dwight Hall because they have allowed me to alleviate financial burdens while exploring different career paths and developing my interest in community service and research. . . I truly believe that my approach to research has become more holistic through my work with Dwight Hall and the CMHC.” 

Abe Tolkoff ’25, Research Track: 

“I am interested in going into Emergency Medicine and this program has shown me how alternatives to the ER can be successful for many patients. I am leaving this experience increasingly dedicated to providing care to every patient I encounter and now have a better understanding of the various resources available in cities like New Haven.” 

Michelle Luh ’25, Research Track: 

“As someone potentially interested in doing clinical research in the future, getting exposure to the very start of these studies and how much you have to think ahead about how you are going to collect data even before you start recruiting participants has been a great experience.” 

Elyse Nguyen ’25, Research Track: 

“My main takeaways are learning more about nursing and working in psychiatric mental health care. I am extremely grateful for this fellowship because it helped me realize I like nursing and want to work in substance abuse treatment.” 

. . . 

The Community Mental Health Fellowship exemplifies the Grow pillar of Dwight Hall’s Engage, Grow, and Advance program delivery model, providing field experiences, training, and mentorship that develop students’ intellectual, moral, and civic capacities.  

You may learn more about Dwight Hall Community Mental Health Fellows here and contribute to the Fellowship here.