Clinical Interns
Yanfei Mao
Yanfei is a clinical counseling intern at Complete Wellness, supervised by Dr. Durwood Whitten. She is a master's student in clinical mental health counseling at Johns Hopkins University. She completed her bachelor's degree in psychology at St. Lawrence University, where she served as a trained advocate to support survivors of sexual and domestic violence through the 24-hour helpline. She has the most experience working with student populations and in community mental health settings addressing various concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma-related problems, and interpersonal relationship issues.
Yanfei has been trained in cognitive-behavioral therapies but is open to integrating other helpful approaches and techniques to meet clients' needs. She provides therapy in a warm, authentic, and non-judgmental style. As a counselor-in-training, she is passionate about working with individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds. She supports clients toward their counseling goals by understanding their values, identities, and strengths.
Evan Elkin
Evan Elkin is a clinical counseling intern at Complete Wellness, supervised by Dr. Durwood Whitten. Evan is a second-year Master’s student at Johns Hopkins University studying Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Before studying for his degree, Evan earned his B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Computer Science at Elon University in 2018. He previously worked as a software developer for three years before making the switch to mental health services. Evan also previously interned at the Baltimore City Circuit Court where he helped conduct biopsychosocial screenings for individuals who were not competent to stand trial.
Evan’s clinical approach draws from a variety of different orientations, including Cognitive Behavioral, Existential, and Solution-Focused therapies. He is interested in taking a holistic approach to helping clients navigate their own values and problems through mindfulness, exploring the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and defining sources of meaning in life. Evan believes that the core of counseling and/or therapy is creating a safe space where the counselor and client develop trust and respect through warmth, openness, empathy, and genuineness. He is interested in working with clients of all ages (children, adolescents, adults) and across all cultural backgrounds struggling with depression, anxiety, OCD and other obsessive-compulsive disorders, life transitions, and other life stressors.
Keenan Eldridge
(Currently on summer break)
Keenan, BA, is a second-year master's student in Johns Hopkins University’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. A Counseling Intern at Complete Wellness, Keenan earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2021 and has integrated those principles into his current work. As a Registered Behavioral Technician since 2020, Keenan has vast experience in working with children on the Autism spectrum in the field of ABA.
Beginning in fall 2023, Keenan will serve as the president of the Johns Hopkins Lambda Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota, a professional counseling honors society. In this role, Keenan seeks to continue exhibiting principles of leadership, collaboration, and curiosity to achieve individual and collective goals. During his time at Johns Hopkins University, Keenan has begun doing research on counselor education as a gatekeeping profession. The work is meant to evaluate the supervision-supervisee relationship in programs developing future professionals across the country. Keenan also acts as a student ambassador within the master’s program, speaking to prospective students about his experiences at Johns Hopkins.
Keenan approaches therapy from a Cognitive Behavioral lens, believing that the client's thoughts and behavior are intertwined. With a desire to collect holistic experience, Keenan would like to work with a diverse client base, including BIPOC, low SES, and trauma-exposed individuals. In 2022, Keenan published the article Survivor Perspectives on Relationship Violence Intervention Programs which sought to clarify how IPV survivors evaluate programs desired to rehabilitate their current or former partners. Keenan seeks to continue gaining experience to feed his passion for helping others who are marginalized because of their identities.
Karishma Singh
(Currently on summer break)
Karishma is a second year master’s in Clinical Mental Health Student at Johns Hopkins University. She is currently an intern at Complete Wellness , supervised by Dr. Durwood Whitten. She double majored in Psychology, and Family and Human Development in her undergraduate at Arizona State University, where she worked as a First-Year Success Coach. She guided freshman students through their transition journey and helped them overcome multiple concerns related to social life, adjusting to the academic rigor of a university and the multiple emotional issues that come along with being a student. She has also interned at a Psychiatric hospital in Hyderabad, India, where she shadowed a counselor, and conducted a few clinical assessments. Karishma also has experience working with children of ages 7 – 11 as an assistant teacher.
Karishma’s counseling orientation is grounded in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and draws from other therapies based on the client’s needs. Karishma’s interests lie in mood disorders, anxiety, depression, trauma exposed, self-confidence and day to day emotions and processing and emotional regulation. She believes in recognizing how the past and present impacts one’s thoughts and works on reframing those experiences and thoughts.Karishma believes in the importance of a counseling relationship and is present during her sessions with an open mind, empathy, supportive nature, respect, and positive regards for all her clients, creating a safe and healing space. Karishma is keen on working with clients ages 10 and up, from various backgrounds such as South Asians, Asians, immigrants and BIPOC communities. Karishma has worked with people of various backgrounds and understands the importance of diversity and molding her counseling methods to best fit the client.