Alumni Spotlight

Raphael Cuadros

My name is Raphael Cuadros, from Germany, and I attended the program in 2015/2016. I’m currently a research assistant at Freie Universität, Berlin, where I took my degree in psychology.

After my initial degree, I was seeking a program to add-on to my clinical psychology studies, and the Crisis and Trauma Program looked like a good choice. I wanted to focus on trauma, and the one-year study abroad program included teachers who were experts in their fields. In addition, the program is based in Israel, itself such an interesting place to study the consequences of violence. It all fit perfectly together - trauma studies, in Israel, and a Master’s degree. 

Looking back, it's not easy to single out highlights, because the classes were very good. I loved the freedom of creating my own project in the placement - maybe it's the course I took the most out of. The site visits were a great supplement to this. Some classes on single issues are still very relevant to my work, including the course on resilience, the course on the intersection of social policy and our work, and the course on religion.

Most of the program courses gave me a valuable learning experience that still holds with me in my work. Some classes (like the ones on resilience and research paradigms) are very relevant to my research now. The course on religion really pushed me into a topic that has certainly broadened my view on psychosocial work. I got familiar with different methods, e.g. in the area of mindfulness, which I just added to a kind of mental "toolbox", ready to be used as situations require. Doing an individual project at the placement equipped me with some experience in project planning and really helps organizing my current work. 

I just started working at the university as a research assistant and currently I'm looking into what my PhD topic should be. So the next thing is — pursuing my PhD. I also have the idea of an alumni network for our class. I'm still in contact with some (also from other years), but bringing that together in some sort of network would be great.