Dr. Aldrich Chan was born in Canada, moved to Hong Kong for five years, moved to Seattle for two years, then moved to Costa Rica where he lived until he was 17 years old. When he thinks of home, he thinks of Costa Rica although he admits “Costa Ricans wouldn’t say I’m Costa Rican, the Canadians wouldn’t say I’m Canadian.” In this podcast, Dr. Chan shares his academic, professional, and a small part of his personal journey including what inspired him to specialize in neuropsychology and consciousness, how one can decide on which field or branch of psychology to focus, and we learn what it took for him to open his own practice and build a successful career in neuropsychology.
Dr. Chan is a neuropsychologist, author of the award-winning book Reassembling Models of Reality: Theory and Clinical Practice published in the prestigious Interpersonal Neurobiology Series, and Founder of the Center for Neuropsychology and Consciousness (CNC), a practice in Miami, FL that provides neuropsychological and psychological services, education, cognitive remediation, and independent consultation. He always knew that he was interested in psychology and philosophy since high school, but it wasn’t until his second year in college that he specialized in psychology. He states, “by mid second year, I ended up taking abnormal psychology and sensation and perception and these courses really changed the direction of my life because I absolutely fell in love with those courses.” His parents wanted him to get into business and he suggested that he would go the psychology route to get into marketing. He wanted to get into a field where he could “include [himself] in the process of healing and use that knowledge in a way that is practical.” So, he ended up volunteering for many projects.
During his volunteer work in Peru working at some orphanages, Dr. Chan realized a couple of things. First, he realized that he enjoyed working with people and was good at it. Second, his curiosity in sensation, perception, and psychology led him to decide to specialize in neuropsychology. He recalls, “I realized there’s so much information from neuroscience and psychology when put together could be so valuable to so many people and could really help direct treatment.” He then shares his experiences and research while attending Carleton University in Ottawa, ON Canada then at The Chicago School in Los Angeles, CA then at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA where he received his PsyD in Clinical Psychology.
In addition to his practice, Dr. Chan was sought out to teach as an Adjunct Professor for the doctoral program (ranked #5 Best PsyD program) and the master’s program (ranked #1, Best Online Master’s program) at Pepperdine University. He acts as the Course Lead for the master’s program and lectures on such topics as neuropsychology, consciousness, psychotherapy, interpersonal neurobiology, affective neuroscience, and cognitive psychology.
During our discussion, Dr. Chan shares the significant experiences and people that helped shape his journey and career. For example, while working on his Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy at The Chicago School, he read a book that really inspired him called The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy by Louis Cozolino. Dr. Chan read other books on interpersonal neurobiology and realized that Pepperdine was well connected and was one of the top schools (if not the top school). He remembers thinking “this is the person I need to work with.” So, working with Louis was the main drive for him selecting Pepperdine for his doctorate. When reflecting on his experiences at Pepperdine, Dr. Chan states “all the faculty there were just absolutely stellar and honestly my experience there was, is heartwarming. It’s an amazing experience and definitely grueling at times.” He continues to share that they put you through the ringer, but it was in a safe environment, and you get so much supervision and amazing mentors, all of whom are “well-seasoned psychologists.”
For those at the fork in the road deciding on whether to earn a PhD or PsyD, Dr. Chan shares his thoughts and experiences regarding this question and why he elected to earn his PsyD in Clinical Psychology. He also shares some of the biggest challenges associated with starting your own private practice. His top three suggestions? First, “make sure you have enough savings to open up a neuropsychology practice because in order to put together the lab, ultimately there are lots of materials and tools that you need to purchase and get all the licensing and all that sort of stuff.” He said it took him about $25,000 to put everything together when starting his practice. Second, be sure that you have a referral stream to help build up your clientele and then decide if you want to accept insurance. If you do, be aware that getting signed up with different insurance panels is difficult as they require a lot of documentation and they don’t pay you very well. Third, be prepared to set up, grow, and maintain your social media accounts as you need to have a good internet presence. Dr. Chan uses his social media platforms as a free education platform to draw in more followers and more people interested in the field. He says you need “to be very proactive, especially if you want to start your own practice…you have to put posts every few days and then you have to see clients and then you’re teaching, and then you’re writing books and all this sort of stuff.”
Dr. Chan discusses his award-winning book Reassembling Models of Reality and says “if you are interested in neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology” then you will like this book because he knitted together these three domains in the book. Interestingly, he originally started drafting the book for the general public but was asked by W.W. Norton & Company to make it more clinical because the Interpersonal Neurobiology series is more of a clinical series, so he went through a bunch of edits and iterations before getting it published. For his efforts, he received the 2023 Nautilus Book Award in the Psychology/Mental & Emotional Well-Being category for this book. Dr. Chan then gives us a glimpse into his new book that he is currently working on called Becoming a Force of Nature which is building off the previous book exploring science, nature, Daoism and how these may intersect with one another as he and others argue “there is a meaning crisis in our society.”
When asked what is one of the most important things he has learned in his life so far, Dr. Chan discusses the idea of eustress and a Stoic saying from Epictetus. He discusses these around the 47-minute mark of our interview.
Connect with Aldrich Chan : LinkedIn | Facebook | InstagramConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
https://vimeo.com/890547696
Interests and Specializations
Aldrich Chan assesses and treats psychological and neurological illnesses through neuropsychological evaluations and treatment through cognitive remediation and/or psychotherapeutic services. He has conducted research and has publications on Alzheimer's, PTSD, Default Mode Network (DMN), memory, imagination, psychotherapy, mindfulness, play and creativity as well as the interplay between, and among, these topics.
Education
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Psychology (2009); Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada.Master of Arts (MA), Clinical Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy (2011); The Chicago School, Los Angeles, CA.Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Clinical Psychology (2016); Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA.
Other Sources and Links of Interest
Dr. Aldrich Chan introduces his new book, Reassembling Models of Reality (Youtube)Dr. Aldrich Chan @ Psychology Today
Podcast Transcript
00:14 BradleyWelcome to the Master’s in Psychology Podcast, where psychology students can learn from psychologists, educators, and practitioners to better understand what they do, how they got there, and hear the advice they have for those interested in getting a graduate degree in psychology. I'm your host, Brad Schumacher, and today we welcome Dr. Aldrich Chan to the show. Dr. Chan is a neuropsychologist, CEO and founder of the Center for Neuropsychology and Consciousness, otherwise known as CNC, and an Adjunct Professor for the doctoral program and master's program at Pepperdine University. He is also the award-winning author of a book called Reassembling Models of Reality: Theory and Clinical Practice. Today, we will learn more about his academic and professional journey, what inspired him to specialize in neuropsychology and consciousness, and hear his advice for those interested in building a successful career in neuropsychology. Dr. Chan, welcome to our podcast.
01:13 AldrichThank you so much for having me.
01:16 BradleyWell, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to walk through your journey. I always find myself telling my guests that part of the fun for me is actually learning about your journey and doing all of the research associated with your academic and then eventually your professional journey. So, first off, we usually talk about your academic journey, and I noticed that your bachelor's degree in psychology, you received that at Carleton University in Ottawa, in Canada. So, tell me a little bit more about your undergraduate experiences and how did you end up at Carlton?
01:51 AldrichSo, I have a diverse background to say the least, and I'm actually Canadian, and so that's one of the major reasons because the tuition was much cheaper. And I actually applied also to Ottawa U and a few other schools. And given the nature of Costa Rican mailing service, I actually didn't receive the acceptance from Ottawa U until much later, and I got Carlton first. So, that was sort of by chance that I ended up going to Carlton and I didn't end up specializing in psychology until about second year university.
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