Emilia Mikrut

Dr. Emilia Mikrut (she/her) is completing her postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia Health Counseling and Psychological Services during the 2024-2025 academic year.

She is excited to work with undergraduate and graduate students to address issues including interpersonal difficulties, identity concerns, trauma, struggles with anxiety and mood, and adjustment to college life. She is particularly interested in trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, military veterans’ issues, and autism spectrum disorder.

Emilia received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from St. John's University and completed her internship at the Manhattan VA. At the VA, Emilia worked with a diverse group of veterans within a range of settings including the PTSD clinic, inpatient psychiatric care, the neuropsychological evaluation service, and primary/palliative care. During her doctoral training, she also provided clinical services at Queens Hospital and St. John's University’s community mental health clinic.

As a clinician, Emilia's therapeutic orientation is integrative, weaving together psychodynamic relational theory with elements of cognitive behavioral therapy. Her personal interest in the arts and storytelling serves as a useful framework for helping others navigate challenging life circumstances. Emilia believes that building a strong therapeutic relationship through authenticity, warmth, and collaboration is paramount in creating a space for clients to begin engaging in self-exploration and enacting positive change.

Emilia's approach to clinical work is also informed by her research background, which is focused on understanding how social determinants of health (e.g., stigma/discrimination; financial instability; interpersonal relationship quality) shape the ways one views themselves, others, and the world around them. Her dissertation explored how health-related social needs affect inner capacity to make meaning of and psychologically adjust to the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her spare time, Emilia enjoys reading, playing board/card games with friends, going on long walks, and attending art shows around the city.

Professional Experience:

  • Pre-Doctoral Clinical Internship: U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs New York Harbor Healthcare System, Manhattan Campus
  • Pre-Doctoral Clinical Externship: U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs New York Harbor Healthcare System, Manhattan Campus
  • Pre-Doctoral Clinical Externship: NYC Health and Hospital / Queens
  • Pre-Doctoral Clinical Externship: St. John's University Center for Psychological Services

Education:

  • Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, St. John's University
  • M.A., Clinical Psychology, St. John's University
  • B.A., Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Hunter College - City University of New York

Certifications and Licensure:

  • Limited permit to practice psychology in the state of New York

Published Articles:

  • Pan, C., Crupi, R., August, P., Sundaram, V., Norful, A., Schwartz, J., Miele, A., Simons, R., Mikrut, E. E., & Brondolo, E. (2023). An Intensive Longitudinal Assessment Approach to Surveilling Trajectories of Burnout over the First Year of the COVID Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 2930. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042930
     
  • Cipollina, R., Sanchez, D., & Mikrut, E. E. (2022). Disclosing mental illness to share or test stigma? Disclosure motivations and disclosure directness. Stigma and Health. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000428
     
  • Ju, T. R., Mikrut, E. E., Spinelli, A., Romain, A.-M., Brondolo, E., Sundaram, V., & Pan, C. X. (2022). Factors associated with burnout among resident physicians responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: A 2-month longitudinal observation study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15), 9714. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159714
     
  • Mikrut, E. E., Keating, L., Barnwell, P., Cioffi, L., Vega, D., Contrada, R., & Brondolo, E. (2021). Pathways from exposure to racial/ethnic discrimination to depression: Testing a social cognitive model. Social Science and Medicine, 114558. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114558
     
  • Mikrut, E. E., Panjwani, A. A., Cipollina, R., & Revenson, T. A. (2019). Emotional adjustment among parents of adolescents and young adults with cancer: The influence of social constraints on cognitive processing and fear of recurrence. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1-9. doi:10.1007/s10865-019-00072-x

Languages Spoken:

  • English
  • Polish (conversational)