I first became interested in becoming a psychologist during my third year of my undergraduate education. My major had always been psychology, though I intended to use it as part of my education to become an attorney. In my third year of college I enrolled in an abnormal psychology course and I became ravenous in my need for knowledge about mental illness and about how to research and diagnoses mental health issues. After much deliberation and reaching out to my academic adviser, I decided to commit more fully to exploring the various fields of psychology and began enrolling in as many different psychology courses as I could before graduation. It was during my last semester of my senior year when I enrolled in a clinical psychology course that I knew I had found my my new career path. I switched gears and began exploring graduate school programs for clinical psychology.
I graduated from Wichita State University's clinical psychology doctoral program in 2010. My chosen emphasis of study was personality theory, pathology, and assessment. I studied under Dr. Deac Dorr, a researcher of personality pathology and assessment; both my Master's thesis and Doctoral dissertation were conducted through his research collaboration with the department of psychology at the University of Kansas-Wichita. I also had the privilege to study under Dr. Robert Zettle, one of the leading researchers of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
I completed my pre-doctoral psychology internship and post-doctoral residency programs at Wasatch Mental Health, a community mental health center, in Provo, UT. I gained generalized training experience working with the full adults, families, adolescents, and children through individual, family, and group therapies and psychological testing. The advantage of a generalized training program is chance to work with the full myriad of mental disorders, often complicated with medical diagnoses, which often mimic or produce mental health symptoms. Learning how to appropriately differentiate and treat more complicated health issues is an excellent skill for any clinician.
To begin our work together we will start with collecting information about all areas of your life, including your background, to help us develop a well-rounded picture of your life, of who you are, and of how have come to be the person you are today.
We then work together on strengthening aspects of your physical well-being to provide yourself a sound foundation to build a healthy mind-body connection. I view our physical bodies as the vehicle by which we experience life in the ways we do. While doing so we will discuss your medical illnesses, nutrition, activity levels, fatigue, stress, hobbies and outlets, mindfulness, meditation, and so on... Learning about each of these aspects is key to understanding and implementing change that encourages both physical and psychological vitality.
Concurrently we will set forth in our psychological work together, incorporating coping and relaxation skills, education about psychological health and mental processes, insight development and strengthening, and the implementation of strategies for change and the maintenance of wellness.
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