The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. —Carl Rogers
My interest in psychology occurred early and quite by accident. Not much of a reader, I liked taking new books out of the school’s library so my name would be the first one on the card. So, one day I saw a new book displayed in the school’s library — So You Want to be a Psychologist. I checked it out and read it. After reading that book, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. So that was the start of my journey with psychology.
The next semester in high school, I enrolled in a psychology class. I found it fascinating and wanted to know more about it. Those were the days way before the internet, so I had to research it myself. Most local libraries didn’t have what I wanted. I had to put this discovery adventure on hold until I was in college where I knew I wanted to major in psychology.
The first few classes were introductory and sort of boring (or at least the professor would drone on and on). I continued to explore the field of psychology – had to train a white rat who I named Ajax. Poor Ajax had a poor trainer. I discovered that this technique or type of psychology wasn’t a good fit for me.
When I got into the upper-level courses, I knew I made the right decision. I signed on as a research assistant and loved it. As I came to end of my undergraduate studies, I decided to pursue a graduate degree in School Psychology.
I worked as a School Psychologist for a decade or so and then decided that I needed to learn more in order to be able to help children and adolescents more, so I pursued a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on working with children and adolescents. My practicums and internship experiences also included working with adults. I ventured into private practice which I found very fulfilling.
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