Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program
The PhD program in Clinical Psychology at City College is one of the most prestigious psychodynamically-informed doctoral programs in the United States.
Our faculty, students, and alumni have been at the forefront of research, theory, and institutional leadership for over 50 years. Our training emphasizes the reciprocal influence of scholarship and clinical practice, and generates cutting-edge research, theory, & novel, integrative models of clinical work. Along with a strong commitment to psychodynamic thinking, our program is dedicated to understanding the manner in which people are shaped by family and community and the ways in which social and cultural norms and inequities affect individual development. Our on-site clinic affords students a rare opportunity to train in a 4+ year practicum with short-term and long-term psychotherapies with children & adults. Along with psychodynamic psychotherapy, our students are trained in several other evidenced-based treatments. Embedded within our program, The Psychological Center is a community-based mental health clinic that serves 300+ individuals each year, including CCNY students, the West Harlem community, & the broader metropolitan area.
All doctoral students in the Clinical Psychology PhD program train for four years at The Psychological Center, in addition to external externships, fellowships, and internship.
The Psychological Center is a community mental health clinic located on the campus of The City College of New York (CCNY). Our clinic is dedicated to delivering excellent and affordable psychological care to the West Harlem community and the broader metropolitan area.
✓ Unique among doctoral training sites in NYC, doctoral students at City have the opportunity to train on-site for four consecutive years with diverse populations of all ages
✓ Training & supervision in a broad range of modalities including: Psychodynamic Therapy, Integrative Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Therapeutic Alliance Focused Psychotherapy (TAAP), Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), as well as adult, child, couples, & group therapy
✓ Outstanding supervision provided by licensed psychologists, including one hour of supervision per client per week in earlier stages of clinical training
Congratulations to our alumnus, Natalie Haziza, PhD, who recently published her article titled "Beyond Pink and Blue: Transcending Gender Binaries Through Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy", in the May 2025 issue of Journal for Specialists in Group Work.
Alumnus Dr. Amy Daley, will be delivering two presentations at the upcoming 2025 APA Convention in Denver. She will present “Emerging from the Crucible: Hormones, Medication, and Identity in Menopause” as part of the Society for Prescribing Psychology (Division 55) programming, and “Finding Authenticity in Artificiality: Generative AI and the Development of Self” as part of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Division 39) programming. Congratulations to Dr. Daley on these exciting contributions!
Najé James (Year 4) co-authored a narrative review of several mental health help-seeking and service utilization models for Black internalizing adolescents, to determine their relevance and fit for Black adolescents with internalizing concerns and their families who are in need of mental health support. Read this wonderful work, recently published in the May issue of Current Psychology, here.
Congratulations to alumnus Amber Nemeth, PhD, who recently became the president of The New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (NYSPI).
Congratulations to recent alumnus of the program, Dr. Michael Perez, for his appointment as a core faculty member at the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, where he is currently facilitating, teaching and supervising in their 3-year Contemplative Psychotherapy Program. At the program, Dr. Perez recently finished working on the year-long study of Wise Compassion, and will be pivoting to work in Mindfulness, Insight and Care this upcoming Fall 2025.
Congratulations to recent alumnus Dr. Paul J. Donahue on the publication of his review of Making Room for the Disavowed, the latest book by Distinguished Professor Paul Wachtel, in the April 2025 issue of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Access the full review here.
Alumnus Stephen Anen received the 2025 Leadership Award from the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (Division 39) in recognition of his service as Program Chair. This award is given to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding service to Division 39 and to activities in advancing psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychology.
Gregory Gagnon, PhD, received the 2025 Joan Sadow Award for Excellence in Teaching at Mount Sinai Behavioral Health Center (MSBHC), where he is a Supervising Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. The award is presented annually by the graduating internship class. He was also appointed Assistant Director of Psychology Training at MSBHC.
Congratulations to Professor Deidre Anglin and second-year clinical psychology doctoral student Alexandria Selloni, who recently published a paper in the March/April 2025 special issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, titled "When the Structural, Social and Biological Domains Converge: The Case of Neighborhood Ethnic Density and Psychosis."
Congratulations to Assistant Professor, Sasha Rudenstine, head of the INTERSECT Lab, and clinical psychology doctoral students Talia Schulder (Year 6), Samantha Feliz (Year 2), and Oneysha Brown (Year 2) ont their new publication in Frontiers in Psychology.
The INTERSECT Lab studies how structural, systemic and identity-based stressors influence psychological outcomes, particularly in underserved populations. This paper highlights adaptability as a critical and underexplored factor in mental health research:
Stressors throughout the lifespan are inevitable, contributing significantly to mental illness. Instead of focusing on resilience, which is psychological recovery after stress, a shift to promote adaptability - maintaining functioning despite ongoing stress - is warranted. The capacity to adapt is a new and important target for primary prevention as it equips individuals to move through life stressors while maintaining baseline psychological health. In other words, the capacity to adapt prevents new onset of psychiatric symptoms and has the potential to improve individual and population health.
Read the full article here.
IMPORTANT DATES
- In-person Open House: October, 16 2025.
- Virtual Open House: October, 21 2025.
- RSVP by emailing our admissions coordinator: clinicaladmissions@gmail.com
- Application Deadline: December 1, 2025 11:59pm.
Last Updated: 07/11/2025 20:59