Celeste Sangiorgio Headshot

Celeste Sangiorgio

Research Assistant Professor

Behavioral Health
College of Health Sciences and Technology
Adjunct Faculty
csihst@rit.edu
585-475-5152
Office Location
SLA-A656

Celeste Sangiorgio

Research Assistant Professor

Behavioral Health
College of Health Sciences and Technology
Adjunct Faculty

Bio

Dr. Celeste Sangiorgio is a licensed clinical psychologist and early clinical psychologist who specializes in how people learn, acquire, and use cognitive behavioral skills in digital environments, particularly in games. Dr. Sangiorgio is particularly interested in skills building associated with conflict, communication, relationships, and self-beliefs. Her work is split in several areas, including:

  • Advocacy – examining and reporting on representation of mental health and related skills in existing digital media, including games; building out new opportunities to share and build work in digital media and mental healthcare.
  • Research – creating, consulting, and testing digital media designed to teach people mental health skills, including digital therapeutics materials and skills teaching embedded in entertainment media (e.g., games, puzzles, pamphlets, interactive toolkits)
  • Teaching – creating and teaching courses, seminars, and independent studies in forensic psychology, digital healthcare, and games
  • Direct clinical care – providing direct psychological services to adults (e.g., individual psychotherapy, assessment, etc.)

Dr. Sangiorgio’s work includes the creation and evaluation of digital media, particularly related to use in psychotherapy and related to externalizing behaviors and mental health skills. She has developed treatment and assessment tools for emotional states in digital media, run a virtual clinic for adults experiencing homelessness, and has developed and tested over-the-counter narrative games (e.g., visual novels with puzzle mechanics) that teach cognitive behavioral skills. She has represented digital healthcare and games at multiple international and national conferences and in publications, including the American Psychological Association (APA), the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), Penny Arcade Expos (PAX East, PAX West) and the Boston Globe.

 In addition to her research work, Celeste has experience in psychotherapy practice, including crisis work and advocacy and various presenting needs across the lifespan (i.e., Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and other complex needs).

Degree & Education Information

  • Ph.D., M.A., Clinical Psychology, St. John's University (2015-2021)
  • Predoctoral Internship, Rochester Psychology Internship Consortium (2020-2021)
  • B.A., Counseling Psychology | Religious Studies, CUNY Graduate Center, Hunter College   
  • Licensed Clinical Psychologist, New York State 
csihst@rit.edu
585-475-5152
Personal Links
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar
LinkedIn

Select Scholarship

Book Chapter
Sangiorgio, Celeste and Dash Lunde. "Taylor (Our Version): When music can sound like home." Psychgeist of Taylor Swift. Ed. Rachel Kowert. Pittsburgh, PA: Play Story Press, 2024. 27-40. Web.
Sangiorgio, Celeste. "What is Love? Triss, Don’t Hurt Me." Psychgeist of The Witcher. Ed. Rachel Kowert. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon ETC Press, 2023. 92-119. Print.
Full Length Book
Sangiorgio, Celeste. Effectiveness Of eHealth Interventions for Externalizing Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis. Queens, NY: St. John's University, 2021. Web.
Journal Paper
Sangiorgio, Celeste, Sarah Blackstone, and Lynn Herrmann. "College student attitudes and strategies for intervention with a hypothetical peer exhibiting disordered eating." International Journal of Eating Disorders 54. 8 (2021): 1486-1492. Web.
Sangiorgio, Celeste, et al. "Sexual Motivations and Ideals Distinguish Sexual Identities within the Self-Concept: A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis." Social Sciences 3. 2 (2014): 215-226. Web.

Currently Teaching

BHNS-311
Diagnosing the Criminal Mind
3 Credits
This course will introduce students within the biomedical sciences, physician assistant, psychology and criminal justice fields to understand basic clinical diagnostic terms, symptoms and behaviors that pertain to clients who commit crime. The course will introduce students to the relationship between mental health, drug addiction, crime and violence. Students will be involved in mock trials, debates and case write ups.
BHNS-426
Addiction Pharmacology
3 Credits
This course will explore the general concepts, social consequences, policy, and other aspects of substance abuse and addiction. Multiple perspectives will be presented, including those of addicts, health-care providers, and family/friends affected by addiction. Then, commonly abused drugs will be discussed in detail. Topics to be presented and discussed for each drug class include: epidemiology, pathophysiology, drug class information, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics actions, short-term and long-term consequences of misuse (including overdose), and contemporary pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment modalities. Availability of resources used to address substance abuse will also be presented.
BHNS-800
Psychology Internship Seminar
0 Credits
The internship seminar is designed to provide the didactic component to help interns achieve the training competencies required by the American Psychological Association, the accrediting body for training in clinical psychology. Interns will be exposed to a variety of doctoral-level clinical psychology content experts in the local community who discuss the ethical conduct of clinical psychologists within the domains of practice, education, consultation, and research with a focus on empirically supported treatment, addiction, and working with diverse populations. The seminar will provide balanced programming for trainees pursuing work with child and adult populations.
PSYC-510
Senior Project in Psychology
3 Credits
This course is intended for students in the psychology major to demonstrate experimental research expertise, while being guided by faculty advisors. The topic to be studied is up to the student, who must find a faculty advisor before signing up for the course. Students will be supervised by the advisor as they conduct their literature review, develop the research question or hypothesis, develop the study methodology and materials, construct all necessary IRB materials, run subjects, and analyze the results of their study. This course will culminate in an APA style paper and poster presentation reporting the results of the research. Because Senior Project is the culmination of a student’s scientific research learning experience in the psychology major, it is expected that the project will be somewhat novel, will extend the theoretical understanding of their previous work (or of the previous work of another researcher), and go well beyond any similar projects that they might have done in any of their previous courses.

In the News

  • June 12, 2023

    seven researchers posing for a photo outside of R I T's clinical health sciences center.

    RIT and FDA test digital therapy/avatar to treat addiction, reduce intimate partner violence

    Researchers from five colleges at RIT are testing a new way to deliver mental health therapy to people struggling with alcohol/drug addiction and aggressive behavior. RIT is running a randomized clinical trial with the Food and Drug Administration to test the therapy platform “RITchCBT” as a tool for treating people whose substance use disorders have led to intimate partner violence.

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