Amy Nitza appointed as new IDMH Director

The Institute for Disaster Mental Health (IDMH) at SUNY New Paltz has announced the appointment of Amy Nitza as its new director, following the retirement of the Institute’s previous director, James Halpern.

Nitza holds a Ph.D in counseling psychology from Indiana University, a M.S. in mental health counseling from Purdue University and a B.A. in psychology from Purdue University. She brings an extensive track record of work in preparing counselors and therapists for professional practice, having served as the Director of the Counselor Education Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne from 2011-2015.

“I’m fortunate to come to an Institute that is already an established resource in the region, and I hope to continue building on the strong work and partnerships forged by Dr. Halpern and the IDMH staff to expand it nationally and internationally,” Nitza said.

She described one approach to increasing the range and impact of the IDMH’s work, by preparing students and health care professionals and paraprofessionals for the unique challenges posed by disasters in international and underdeveloped communities.

“I share Dr. Halpern’s goal of creating opportunities for our students to respond in live disaster situations, and I’d like to develop ways of preparing them to work in places where there isn’t a well-established mental health response infrastructure,” Nitza said.

She discussed her own experiences working in Botswana with counselors intervening in situations related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and in Haiti with counselors responding to children traumatized in the wake of the destructive 2010 earthquake there.

Nitza said these experiences inform some of her goals for creating applied learning opportunities for students, especially for graduate students pursuing the IDMH’s Advanced Certificate in Trauma and Disaster Mental Health. She hopes more applied learning experiences will help give students a clearer comprehension of the many different factors that can come into play when responding to disaster in unfamiliar environments.

“I want to expand what people think of when they think of disaster mental health, to include things like the needs of refugees, before and after they’ve resettled,” she said. “I also want to emphasize culture, and the way that we address cultural differences in planning to meet people’s needs in diverse communities.”

Amy Nitza is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and holds a postdoctoral certificate in global mental health from Harvard University. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and has published frequently in peer-reviewed journals and as a contributor or lead author for a number of books.

More information about the Institute for Disaster Mental Health is available online.