NSU Psychology Student Volunteers for the Guardian ad Litem Program

Christina Castellana, a first year Psy.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program became a volunteer for the Guardian ad Litem program at the suggestion of her program mentor, Scott Poland, Ed.D. Poland is a professor for the College of Psychology and is the director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office (SVP) for Nova Southeastern University. He has extensive background in areas related to school crisis prevention and intervention.

The mentor relationship began as Christina had an interest in suicide and violence prevention and was part of the SVP. As the director of the program, Poland shared that the SVP had several students who volunteered and wrote articles on the topic and were involved in training projects on campus. In addition to involvement in SVP, Poland advised Christina to research the Guardian ad Litem program as he believed it is important for students to engage in additional activities that made them stand out among their peers in a competitive program. Poland himself volunteered as part of the Big Brothers program when he was in graduate school and continues to keep in touch with his “little brother” to this day.

When asked to describe the program, Christina stated that a Guardian ad Litem is a volunteer child advocate who provides guidance to a dependent child and shepherds him/her through the dependency court process. The ad Litem looks out for the best interest of the child and becomes the voice for the child in judicial dependency proceedings. Guardian ad Litem volunteers attend court hearings, have meetings with the child, and submit reports on how the child interacts with parents, relatives, and others.

In order to become a Guardian ad Litem, interested individuals should visit https://guardianadlitem.org to learn more about the program. Once individuals are comfortable with the responsibilities of the position, they should submit an application. The process encompasses an application, an interview, and (if approved) lots of training. These trainings consist of numerous webinar sessions on a variety of topics. Christina added that in addition to the training, applicants must complete confidentially forms and submit fingerprints for background check.

One of the required Guardian ad Litem trainings was presented by Poland, entitled, “Making a Difference: Preventing Youth Suicide and Promoting Resilience,” a topic that covered the concerns with youth suicide prevention, risk factors, and signs of suicide. Participants were instructed on the importance of being aware that foster children, especially those with adverse childhood experiences, are at increased risk for suicide. Participants also learned about the protective factors against youth suicide and how to identify forms of bullying. When asked about how Poland’s presentation impacted her, Christina shared that anyone who works with children, should be trained in assessing for youth suicide. She stated that many children go through traumatic experiences, or they were neglected and/or abused, and as a Guardian ad Litem, she was trained to identify these issues. She added that awareness of issues should not be limited to ad Litem volunteers but to the general public as well.

After successfully completing her Guardian ad Litem training, Christina was recently assigned her first case and she was very excited.

Anyone interested in becoming a Guardian Ad Litem volunteer, should visit: https://guardianadlitem.org/volunteer-with-guardian-ad-litem/