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.

Hope Kelaher originally pursued environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore but quickly realized that she preferred helping people. She worked in the college’s career center as a career coach and had the opportunity to go to Cuba to study their public health system. After attending Johns Hopkins, Hope completed some internships with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva on postpartum depression. This was her initial entry into the world of psychology as she “did a lot of work in Inner City Baltimore at the Hopkins School Public Health doing family and child health research.” She then had the opportunity to go into the Peace Corp, where they commissioned her to Uganda doing AIDS Hospice work. However, when getting her physical, her doctor looked at her and said “why are you going to Uganda? You could do so much good here in Baltimore, why don’t you stick around?” Her doctor told her that hospice work is really hard and “I don’t really think this is the best thing for you.” Hope’s uncle also said the same thing. So, she decided to stay in Baltimore and worked at The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which was started by one of the founders of UPS, Jim Casey, and exists to help children thrive and survive in underdeveloped and low-income communities by providing services and grants to those in need. She also worked with the NECC Foundation and the Children’s Aid Society.

In this podcast, Hope shares her academic and professional journey, discusses why she went into social work and some of the requirements to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of New York. She also discusses her private practice, Hope Kelaher Therapy, located in Lower Manhattan, NYC. Hope received her bachelor’s degree in public health and sociology from Johns Hopkins University and her Master of Arts in Social Work from Columbia University. She conducted her post-graduate study in Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling at the Ackerman Institute for Family in NY.

Those interested in a career in social work or psychology may find that schooling can be expensive. In addition to internships, scholarships, grants, and other funding opportunities to help offset the cost of schooling, Hope shares how she attained funding from the Children’s Aid Society to help fund half of her tuition while attending Columbia University. Hope shares “so, Columbia and my agency had this agreement where I could, you know, go to school part-time and then work full-time, so that’s what I did.” She continues by stating “any recommendation I can give to people going into social work, social work does not pay a lot of money, so wherever you can find a deal, take it, right?” After graduating from Columbia, she decided to pursue family therapy, so she attended Ackerman Institute for Family.

When reflecting on her journey, Hope shares “so really, my journey into private practice and being more of a clinical person happened while I was working in a nonprofit agency.” After she completed the Ackerman Institute for Family’s clinical externship, she remembers doing a lot of hard work, working really long hours, and not getting compensated fairly “and so, that’s something that people have to really think about when they do this work.” Therefore, Hope started her own very small private practice in 2018 while she was still working full-time.

She explains that, in New York, a licensed clinical social worker can do therapy whereas in some other states, you have to have a PsyD or PhD. At this point, we discuss some of the requirements for becoming a LCSW in New York and share some valuable information and websites for those interested in this career path. Hope discusses some of the biggest challenges associated with opening your own private practice and provides helpful advice including making sure you “get a lot of experience working with many different people before you go into private practice because you never know who will show up.” It takes a lot of work and financial resources and support to get a practice up and running. Hope also suggests that you know your own boundaries and make them known to your clients so that you don’t find yourself working long or odd hours. She states, “people starting a private practice, they’re just so eager to kind of build their clientele that they are too accommodating.” You also need to remember to screen your clients before taking them on and remember “some people are not going to be the right fit for you and that is OK. And also having other people in the field that you can refer them to, I felt was very helpful.”

Hope reminds us that “part of being a therapist today is being a businessperson.” She says, “there’s a lot of freedom in working for yourself, but then there’s also a lot of responsibility by and thinking about the business end with cash flow, you know, paying estimated taxes, health insurance, all of that stuff that sometimes is an afterthought because people get so eager.” You can, and should, reach out for help if you need guidance. Hope also believes that it is important to focus on “self-care” because social work and therapy takes a lot of energy so consider getting your own therapist to help keep you grounded and process any traumatic event or journeys shared with you from your clients.

Near the end of our discussion, we discuss a couple of her books including Here to Make Friends: How to Make Friends as an Adult which is a Gold winner for Family & Relationships in the 2020 Foreword INDIES Book Awards and her most recent book The Resilience Workbook for Women: A Transformative Guide to Discover Your Inner Strength, Conquer Adversity, and Achieve Your Goals. She believes all of us are born with a level of resilience, but some do not know how to cultivate it. In the workbook, she provides exercises that are applicable to many different challenges a person is experiencing in their life. Though the workbook is specifically designed for women, many of the principles and exercises can be used for men as well.

When asked what she loves most about her job, Hope shares “somebody just came out with a list of the most gratifying careers and construction was the first one because people can see the end product. As therapists, we don’t always get to see the end product, but the gift of seeing somebody blossom is just, it’s the most amazing thing.”  

Connect with Hope Kelaher : LinkedIn | InstagramConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/883173874

Interests and Specializations

Hope Kelaher has extensive training and experience in relational and systematic therapy. She is passionate about helping individuals, couples, and families who are struggling with anxiety and depression by examining the individual themselves and in the various contexts of their lives such as home life, work life, and community life.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Public Health, Sociology (2005); The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.Master of Arts (MA), Social Work (2011); Columbia University, New York, NY.Post Graduate Study, Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling (2017); Ackerman Institute for Family, New York, NY.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Hope Kelaher: Psychology TodayHope Kelaher: Simon & SchusterHope Kelaher: Ulysses Press

Podcast Transcript

00:15 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. Today, we welcome Hope Kelaher to the show. Hope is a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice in lower Manhattan. She provides individual, couple, and family therapy. She received her bachelor's degree in public health and sociology from Johns Hopkins University, and her Master of Arts in Social Work from Columbia University. Hope is an author of a few books, including Here to Make Friends: How to Make Friends as an Adult, which was a Gold Winner for Family & Relationships in the 2020 Foreword INDIES Book Awards. Her most recent book is called The Resilience Workbook for Women: A Transformative Guide to Discover Your Inner Strength, Conquer Adversity, and Achieve Your Goals. Today we will learn more about her academic and professional journey, more about Hope Kelleher Therapy and her new book, and hear her advice for those interested in the field of social work and psychology. Hope, welcome to our podcast.

01:28 HopeHi, Brad. Thank you so much for having me today. I'm very excited to share my journey with those who might be interested in pursuing a degree in social work or psychology.

01:40 BradleyWell, I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to talk with us. Every single guest on our podcast has a different journey to tell, and so I know that when we looked at yours, you received your bachelor's degree in public health and sociology, as I said, at John Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University. Tell me a little bit more about your undergraduate experiences and what eventually led you to focus on public health and sociology.

02:05 HopeYeah, that's a really good question. I went to Johns Hopkins in. I graduated in from high school in 2001. So, it was right after 911 or just before 911, I was at Hopkins during 9/11. I went in to pursue environmental engineering and was just absolutely miserable. And I realized that I liked working with people. I liked being around people, I like helping people. I worked at my college's Career Center as like a career coach type of thing, and I just I really like volunteering. And then my university had a program, it is a little sort of tangled web, but where we where we did a little bit of a study in Cuba, in Havana. And so, I had always wanted to go to Havana.

Those of you who are in the field of psychology, take a moment to remember what originally sparked your interest in psychology. For Dr. Greg Neimeyer, it was having an outstanding high school teacher who taught honors in psychology and was an adjunct professor at a local community college. He fondly recalls “for us, as high school students, we [had] a real-life professor in high school, and we were in awe. He taught it like a very intellectually challenging course, not unlike a college course, [and] really lit the fire under us in terms of intellectual interest, so the spark for me was really an outstanding high school teacher.” Dr. Neimeyer decided to attend college at the University of Florida, where he received a speech debate scholarship, and first selected speech as his major then the psychology seed that was planted in him in high school began to bear fruit and he changed his major to psychology during his second year and, as he states, “the rest, as they say, is history.”

After attending the University of Notre Dame for his master’s and doctorate in psychology, he wanted to stay in the academic field and applied to multiple universities for his first faculty position. In this podcast, Dr. Neimeyer eloquently reflects on his career of over 42 years in the field of psychology highlighting the important experiences, people, and lessons he has learned while sharing important tangible and meaningful advice including how to select the right graduate program and university for you, tips on setting yourself apart from others when applying to graduate schools, and the importance of continuing education and paying it forward.

Interestingly, Dr. Neimeyer returns to his undergraduate alma mater for his first faculty position. He shares that he always knew that he wanted to become an academic but wanted to maintain the clinical practice side as he “always regarded that as a key ingredient to be able to, you know, bring the clinic into the classroom and the classroom into the clinic.” Dr. Neimeyer is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida, where he served as Director of Training and Graduate Coordinator of the APA-approved doctoral training program in counseling psychology and has taught courses on the DSM, the ICD, and psychopathology. He currently serves as the Director of the Offices of Continuing Education in Psychology, the Center for Learning And Career Development, and the Center for Interprofessional Training and Education at the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C..

Throughout our discussion, Dr. Neimeyer shares his thoughts, suggestions, and experiences in the hopes that it will help those who are interested in the field of psychology. He provides his thoughts on how to select the right graduate program for you and how to decide on which branch or field of psychology is a good fit given your interests. He says, “psychology is present in just about everything. So that’s the good news and the bad news. I mean, the bad news is you’re faced with having to make some difficult decisions among a blizzard of different opportunities. The good news is that whatever your interests are, you can attach them to, and draft in behind, the graduate program that’s likely to support that.” If you are having a hard time selecting a branch of psychology to focus on, he suggests a few things such as looking at your undergraduate psychology book. There are probably 30-35 chapters in the book so look through the book and identify the ones that resonate with you or in which you are interested and pass over the ones that you find yourself yawning at or not the least bit interested. He shares “probably about 80% of students wind up going into the professional side which is clinical, counseling, or school [psychology]. Those are the only areas that are licensed eligible.” He continues “my experience is that about 80% of students wind up wanting to have at least part, if not all, of their career focused on helping other people and that really is the professional side. So there, you’re really looking at a master’s or doctoral level in clinical or counseling psychology.” He summarizes this section of our discussion by stating “that’s worth amplifying Brad, because in a way you can think about the graduate degree, whether it’s a master’s or a doctoral, as a kind of golden ticket, right? So, once you gain entry into the field with that graduate degree, whether it’s licensed eligible or not, you have the degree of freedom to pursue your specialty interest.”

He discusses what he calls “the three-touch rule” when it comes to winnowing down your top 15-20 graduate programs and schools. You can look at the programs and universities then you look at the faculty and their research and find the faculty “whose interests match your own.” He then walks us through the three-touch rule which will help you stand out when it comes time for the review committee to make their offers. He says by following these steps, “they look at you in an entirely different way as an interested human who has done what a graduate student must do…they distinguish themselves by their initiative and you have taken the initiative to marry your interest to theirs.”

Dr. Neimeyer was invited by the American Psychiatric Association to serve as one of only two psychologists originally trained on the DSM-5, and subsequently has provided hundreds of professional trainings on the DSM and ICD both nationally and internationally. He is also conducting trainings on the DSM-5-TR (Text Revision) and describes his experiences training in Zimbabwe which led to discussions about traveling, accents, culture, and culture biases.

We discussed his roles at the APA and the importance of continuing education. When asked about the importance of continuing education in psychology and how it benefits professionals in the field, Dr. Neimeyer responded “Think about it. It becomes really clear really quickly if you think about [it], your master’s program takes two years, your doctoral program may take an additional four years. You’re going to be in the practice an additional 35 years. The half-life of knowledge in psychology is between 5 and 7 years. If you’re practicing on the basis of something you learned 7-8-9-10 years ago, you are a troglodyte. If you’re doing psychopharmacology based on psychopharmacology for 1990 or 2000, that’s yesterday’s news. That’s ancient history. So continuing education is absolutely vital.” He continues “So, getting out of graduate school is just an opportunity to redouble your learning in areas of that are of central interest to you. It’s one of the things that fuels the field of specialization.”

The information available in each of the fields is so vast that one has to be a critical consumer of this knowledge and spend your time wisely being aware of the existence of garbage or “junk sources” because they are out there. So, identifying trusted and credible sources is important. We discuss how to stay current with the latest research and advancements in the field of psychology and highlight a handful of trusted sources but, again, because there is so much information available, Dr. Neimeyer points out it’s “like trying to get a sip of water out of a fire hydrant field, but that’s part of what makes it so incredibly exciting.”

In addition to all of the unique experiences he has had over his entire career, when asked to share something unique about himself, Dr. Neimeyer shared that he was a tableside flambé chef before he was a psychologist. He would prepare “tableside flambés, flaming coffees, the Steak Dianes, the Baked Alaska, Cherries Jubilee, [and] Bananas Foster, all those things that I’ve learned to love.” Dr. Neimeyer admitted that his wife Edwina was expecting him to make dinner for her and she holds him to a “higher standard” knowing his experience preparing food.

Connect with Dr. Greg Neimeyer: LinkedIn | Faculty PageConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/881109650

Interests and Specializations

Dr. Greg Neimeyer has published over 200 scholarly articles and more than 12 books, largely in the areas of personality and professional and career development. As a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Neimeyer also received its Award for Outstanding Contributions to Career and Personality Research.

Education

Bachelor of Science (BS), Psychology (1977); University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Psychology (1982); University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Dr. Greg Neimeyer: WikipediaDr. Greg Neimeyer: Global Health Policy InstituteDr. Greg Neimeyer: University of Central FloridaDr. Greg Neimeyer: Understanding the DSM-5 (Youtube)Dr. Greg Neimeyer: The DSM Rap (Youtube)

Podcast Transcript

00:00:13 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. Greg Neimeyer to the show. Dr. Neimeyer is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida, where he served as Director of Training and Graduate Coordinator of the APA approved doctoral training program in counseling psychology, and has taught courses in the DSM, the ICD, and psychopathology. A fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Neimeyer is also a recipient of its award for Outstanding Contributions to Career and Personality Research. Dr. Neimeyer currently serves as the Director of the Offices of Continuing Education in Psychology, the Center for Learning and Career Development,

Dr. Katherine MacLean is a neuroscientist, writer, research scientist, mother, and adventure-seeker. Dr. Maclean thought she would study anthropology, religion, or pre-Med when she first started undergraduate school. She had many interests including genetics, spirituality, and the brain. She recalls “I took an anthropology of religion course, and that’s when I first learned about Shamanic and spiritual ceremonies that could trigger changes in the brain that created visions that created the experience of real-life entities.” At the time, she also took psychology courses and learned there was a rhesus macaque lab in the basement. She wanted to find out what those monkeys were doing in the basement so with the help of her undergrad mentor, Yale Cohen, she was able to corral all of her disparate interests and combine them with her passion to forge a new research path that combined her work on mindfulness research while earning her doctorate at UC-Davis and her psilocybin research at Johns Hopkins University where she completed her postdoctoral fellowship in psychopharmacology.

In this podcast interview, Dr. MacLean brings us back to her undergraduate and graduate experiences and shares the critical events and people that led her to obtain her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Neuroscience and attend UC-Davis for her PhD in Research Psychology as well as attending Johns Hopkins University for her postdoctoral fellowship in psychopharmacology. She shares her experience visiting graduate schools and how she mentioned her interest in studying psychedelics “just to see how they would respond.” At the time, serious research on psychedelics was not happening so Dr. MacLean combined her interests and passion to establish a legitimate line of groundbreaking research studying the effects of mindfulness meditation and psychedelics on cognitive performance, emotional well-being, spirituality, and brain function. Her research suggests that psychedelic medicines can enhance openness to new experiences and promote mental health and emotional well-being throughout the life span.

Dr. MacLean co-founded and directed the first center for psychedelic training and education in New York, was featured in the New Yorker article entitled “The Trip Treatment by Michael Pollan, and her TED Talks have been viewed nearly fifty thousand times. She was one of the lead researchers on the Shamatha Project, which was a groundbreaking study of the effects of intensive meditation on psychological and brain function. When she was a research follow and faculty member at Johns Hopkins, she apprenticed with and was supervised by two of the world’s top psychedelic therapists – Bill Richards, PhD, and Mary Cosimano, LSW – learning how to effectively and safely support people before, during, and after high-dose psychedelic experiences.

When reflecting on your journey and her professional career, Dr. MacLean shares practical advice for those “climbing the ladder of success.” She states, “I might have been very happy as a tenure track faculty member at Johns Hopkins. But, the thing that I want to impress upon young psychology students is something that a medical doctor told me when I was deciding whether to leave Hopkins, ‘sometimes as you’re climbing the ladder of success, you get to the top and realize it’s on the wrong wall and you have to get all the way back down and put the ladder up on a different wall and start from scratch.’”

Dr. MacLean spent the last two decades studying the effects of mindfulness meditation and psychedelics on cognitive performance, emotional well-being, spirituality, and brain function. Her professional journey takes an unexpected detour following the death of her sister from cancer. She left her faculty position and decided to travel the world. In her new book, Midnight Water: A Psychedelic Memoir, she shares her story of grief and redemption. During our discussion she shares more about her book, why she wrote it, and the important takeaways we should learn from it. She refers to her own personal journey as one where she climbed halfway up the ladder but realized that she was working all the time, working weekends, feeling stressed out, and then having a significant life-changing moment which left her feeling very anxious when thinking about all of the other things she still wanted to do with her life (having children, enjoying life, etc.). She said “there’s no way I wanted to work all weekend, not have any children, not be able to have a fun life alongside my dream. So, I temporarily gave up my dream to pursue life and what came out of that was this book.”

Given the current state of psychedelic research, Dr. MacLean would advise students who are interested in the field to consider getting a medical degree along with their PhD “because you will not regret it when you are one of the only doctors in the room who also understands this research and how these drugs work in the brain.” She also offers advice to aspiring psychology students who are just starting out on their academic journey. She states, “find the research that’s fascinating and talk to the people who are doing it, you know, because you never know where that’s going to lead.”

Connect with Dr. Katherine MacLean: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | FacebookConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/875102592

Interests and Specializations

Dr. Katherine MacLean received her doctorate in research psychology and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in psychopharmacology. She is an expert studying the effects of mindfulness meditation and psychedelics on cognitive performance, spirituality, emotional well-being, and brain function. Her groundbreaking research on psilocybin and personality change is well-known in the field.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Psychology & Neuroscience (2003); Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Research Psychology (2009); University of California – Davis, Davis, CA.Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychopharmacology (2012); Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Dr. Katherine Maclean: @AmazonDr. Katherine Maclean: Open Wide and Say Awe (Ted Talk)Dr. Katherine Maclean: Befriending the Beloved Mystery with Magic MushroomsDr. Katherine Maclean: The Psychedelic Art of Dying: Magic Mushrooms & The Final Meltdown

Podcast Transcript

00:13 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. Catherine MacLean to the show. Dr. MacLean is a neuroscientist with expertise in studying the effects of mindfulness meditation and psychedelics on cognitive performance, emotional well-being, spirituality, and brain function. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and neuroscience from Dartmouth College. Dr. MacLean then earned her PhD in Research Psychology from the University of California, Davis. Her groundbreaking research on Silo Sibin and personality change suggests that psychedelic medicines can enhance openness to new experiences and promote mental health and emotional well-being throughout the lifespan. Today, we will learn more about her academic and professional journey, more about her current project, and hear about her recent book, Midnight Water: A Psychedelic Memoir. Dr. McLean, welcome to our podcast.

01:25 KatherineThanks for having me. This is a great way to spend my, the end of my Labor Day.

01:30 BradleyWell, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy. Well, actually today Labor Day is nice. I know that you were busy earlier on doing another recording. So, I thank you for being on our podcast, first of all. And to start off, if you've seen some of our podcasts, you know that we kind of go through your journey. First, we start talking about your academic journey and then your professional journey. So, I noticed that you received your bachelor's degree in psychology and neuroscience from Dartmouth College. Can you tell us more about your journey and how you became a neuroscientist and, ultimately, what motivated you to pursue this career path?

02:09 KatherineSure. Well, I thought that I was going to study either anthropology or religion. And before that, I thought that I might do pre-Med as well. And very shortly into the pre-Med track, I think it was a genetics class. I just said, you know what this is too. You know, there's even too nerdy for me and that's it. You know, pre-Med is too nerdy for me, so I'm going to let some of the other workaholic kids do that track. And I took a number of other courses in anthropology, religion. I was. I was fascinated by how humans expressed their spirituality, their beliefs. I was fascinated by Buddhism, in particular, because it's very, it's a kind of a very mind-oriented religion. And then I took an anthropology of religion course, and that's when I first learned about Shamanic and spiritual ceremonies that could trigger changes in the brain that created visions that created the experience of real-life entities. It seemed to kind of capture all of my interests all in one. And at the time I decided to start taking psychology courses, I took about a year's worth, and then I found out there was a rhesus macaque lab at the basement of the site building. And I was like, whatever it takes, I need to figure out what those monkeys are doing in the basement. And so that brought me to my undergrad mentor, Yale Cohen and I would say that it was Yale Cohen who finally took all of my disparate interests. My passion for these very kind of weird, wacky topics and directed that energy into the path that eventually landed me in grad school.

How much would you pay to spend almost 90 minutes with a world-renowned performance psychologist (a pioneer in the field), researcher, New York Times best-selling author, C-suite coach, co-founder of the Human Performance Institute (HPI), co-founder of APeak Tennis, advisor and coach of Evolve Leadership? In this podcast episode, I had the privilege of talking with Dr. Jim Loehr as he reflected on his more than 30 years of vast experience and applied research designed to successfully leverage the science of energy management to improve the productivity and engagement of world-class performers in the areas of sport, business, medicine, and law enforcement. He shares what he believes is the most important factor in success, personal fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Dr. Loehr also discusses his recently co-authored book that he believes is “the most important book [he has] ever written” called Wise Decisions: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Choices.

Dr. Jim Loehr’s parents were deeply religious, devout Catholics so his whole life was centered around religious teachings and beliefs. His sister became a nun, and his brother became a Jesuit priest out of high school and was in the Jesuits for seven years. Dr. Loehr explained that “there was no choice as to where I was going to go to school…I had to go to a school that [my parents] approved.” So, he attended Regis High School then Regis University. The only graduate school his parents would accept, while staying reasonably close to home, was the University of Northern Colorado. Therefore, Dr. Loehr received his BA in Psychology from Regis University, and an MA and EdD in Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO.

During our discussion, Dr. Loehr reflects on his academic and professional journey highlighting the experiences and people that impacted him and explains the events that led him to become a pioneer in the sport and performance psychology field. Throughout our discussion, he offers thoughtful and practical advice to those interested in the field. He shares a story in which he wrote a book called Mental Toughness Training for Sports and sent it to 19 major league publishers and got 19 rejections where they all said, “what the heck is mental toughness?” Dr. Loehr’s father played professional baseball and read the book and said, “this makes sense…I’m going to go ahead and take a risk here” and he paid someone to produce the book and they sent it around to see what people thought of the book. The book became an underground bestseller and, all of a sudden, it was picked up by a major publisher and sold millions of copies all over the world. Dr. Loehr realized that the concept of mental toughness was so new and “because it was before its time, they thought it was absolute nonsense.” Resilience and toughness are needed when you are a pioneer and you are doing something different.

Dr. Loehr shares some of the most significant experiences of his career, the ones that impacted him and his journey the most, including his experience as Chief Psychologist and Executive Director of the San Luis Valley Mental Health Corporation. We discuss how he founded The Center for Athletic Excellence in Denver, CO and his involvement as the Executive Director and Sport Psychologist at the Jimmy Connors United States Tennis Center. Dr. Loehr shares the story leading up to getting that position. Essentially, there was an ad for someone to run the Jimmy Connors United States Tennis Center in Sanibel Harbor, so he called Bob Davis and said, “I’ll run all the facility for you, but I want to have access to Jimmy’s brain. I want to be able to do videos and everything else. I want to see what makes that competitive brain work. I need to learn. So, he didn’t check with Jimmy. He just said, ‘no, it’s done. We’d love to have somebody with a Doctor of Psychology down here.’”

He had such a reputation and following that many of the players at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, located up the road, were coming to him and Nick didn’t like it. Nick approached Dr. Loehr and asked him to set up his research institute at his place. So, Dr. Loehr became the Director of Sport Science and Sport Psychology at The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy where he learned “everything” as he had access to over 240 of the best players in the world at the time. He hooked up the players “to more telemetry than you can possibly imagine” including EEG, EMG, and all kinds of heart rate monitoring between points, during points, and had access to a videographer so they would look at the videos of all their matches.

After 6 years at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, Dr. Loehr was ready to do something on his own, so he joined forces with Dr. Jack Groppel, who had a PhD in bioengineering. They created a company in 1992 called the Human Performance Institute (HPI). They set up the operation and raised the money needed. Dr. Loehr recalls “everybody said it would fail. We had no chance of succeeding at Lake Nona, which is a suburb of Orlando, and that’s when my career really began.” The Institute was purchased by Johnson & Johnson in 2008 and he stayed on during the transition for another 6 years. By the time he left, around 400,000 people went through the Institute which resulted in a huge database. Dr. Groppel was the head of the biomechanics lab at the University of Illinois, so he was looking at the biomechanical part of everything at the Institute and Dr. Loehr was looking at the psychological side of human performance. He states, “And then we brought in all kinds of people. Our faculty was probably some of the most extraordinary human beings I’ve ever been around. We had the former commander of the Navy Seals, former commander of the Blue Angels, Elite Air Force instructor, fighter pilot, we had gold medalists, silver medalists. When they spoke, people listened.”

In addition to multiple stories and experiences, Dr. Loehr shares advice throughout the interview. Some of the advice is geared toward those interested in the field of sport and performance psychology. He says that it is important to follow your interest and passion, but you also need to figure out how you are going to eat, how you are going to pay the bills. He said, “I know so many people who’ve gotten PhD’s in sport psychology and can’t find a job…you have to be an entrepreneur.” When you go out on your own, become a pioneer or an entrepreneur “you are setting up a business. The business of you.” His recommendation is to get a clinical degree and specialize in performance psychology as it has a much broader base than sport psychology. He adds “get licensed, get yourself an opportunity to set up a practice. There are lots of opportunities. Then you can begin to, you know, hone your career specifically in the direction you want.” Dr. Loehr shares that he has counseled many people to go into performance psychology and they have gone into the corporate world using the principles and knowledge from the HPI and “have started businesses, corporate businesses, and they’re doing exceedingly well, and they love it.”

Dr. Loehr recently co-authored a book with Dr. Sheila Ohlsson Walker called Wise Decisions: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Choices. Dr. Ohlsson received her PhD in Behavioral Genetics from King’s College in London and is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. Both she and Dr. Loehr serve on the board of the Youth Performance Institute the mission, of which, is “The Youth Performance Institute combines mentorship, coaching, character development, and technology to ensure kids of all backgrounds have the tools they need to overcome personal challenges, advance their talents, and live their lives to the fullest.”

Dr. Loehr shares “we make 35,000 or more decisions every day, 245,000 decisions every week, over 12 million every year. And if I ask you, what are you referencing when you make your decision, most people don’t have a clue.” Drs. Loehr and Walker and a team of industry experts took a science-based approach to decision-making and developed an evidence- and research-based blueprint for making the best decision you can given all of the information you have. In sport psychology you have an inner voice which is called “Self-Talk” which is untrained. In this book, you will learn about a trained inner voice called “Your Own Decision Advisor” or YODA. He says “some YODAs are dysfunctional. They’re not depositories of great wisdom, and so the whole book is about uploading the right stuff to your YODA so YODA can make the right decisions.” This book is a very practical guide as it helps automate the process so that you can turn your decision-making process into one informed by reason, emotion, intuition, and science.

Dr. Loehr reminds us that “the most important coach you will ever have is the coach no one hears but you. And the only voice you’ll have in your head until your death. And you want that not to be an adversary.” He asks “if we projected your self inner talk on a Jumbotron the way you coached yourself, would you be proud of the way you coached yourself through that situation? And when we get that space cleaned up, it is actually miraculous.”

When asked what his favorite term, principle, or theory is, Dr. Loehr replied “this notion of purpose. We are a purpose driven species. And a self-transcending purpose is how we are designed. We are social creatures; we exist to help everyone else be successful. When we get that right, our lives light up. And we can become fully engaged and fully satisfied and we’re likely to become the best we can be.”

Connect with Dr. Jim Loehr: LinkedIn | Amazon | WebsiteConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/858808905

Interests and Specializations

Dr. Jim Loehr is a pioneer in the sport and performance psychology field.

Dr. Neil Lewis, Jr. was born in Jamaica and came to the United States as a kid. In this podcast, we discuss his academic and professional journey beginning from what originally sparked his interest in psychology including a demonstration by his high school economics teacher at Cornell University in Ithica, NY to what led him to the University of Michigan for his graduate degrees in social psychology leading to his dual appointment and recent promotion as Associate Professor at Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medicine. During our discussion, Dr. Lewis shares his experiences and advice with those interested in getting their graduate degree in the field of psychology and those wanting to stay in the academic field.

Dr. Lewis is a behavioral scientist who has a dual appointment as Associate Professor of Communication and Social Behavior at Cornell University and Associate Professor of Communication Research in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Lewis states, “the reason for the dual appointments, in this case, is I do a lot of health research including research on how the ways health clinics and health systems communicate information to patients affects the health behaviors the patients engage in and health outcomes.” So, in the Department of Communication, he is surrounded by communication scholars and other social scientists who are interested in the communication process. Then, in the Medical School, all of his colleagues are medical doctors who put these communication processes into practice. He believes “being in both worlds really allows me to get the broader set of perspectives that I need to have on health issues and that improves my ability to study those issues as well.”

He also co-directs Cornell’s Action Research Collaborative, an institutional hub that brings together researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and community members to collaborate on projects and initiatives to address important equity issues in society. Dr. Lewis received the Early Career Scholar Award from the International Communication Association, the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science, and Cornell’s Research and Extension Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Science and Public Policy. Outside of academia, Thinkers50 and Deloitte identified Dr. Lewis as one of the 30 up-and-coming thinkers whose ideas will shape management in the coming years due to his contributions to work motivation and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dr. Lewis’s interest in psychology actually stemmed from a great high school economics teacher who sparked his interest in economics through his teachings and demonstrations. Dr. Lewis thought that an economics degree was a “practical degree to get…to be employable at the end of my undergraduate journey…but the most interesting part of economics for me were the parts that were fundamentally psychological.” For example, he recalls a demonstration in which the professor took out a $20 bill and a $1 bill and ripped both of them in half. When the professor asked the students to reflect on their reaction and explain why they were more upset about the $20 bill being torn in half than the $1 bill being torn in half, they replied that one was worth more than the other even though both were made of the same pieces of paper and used the same kind of ink. Dr. Lewis realized that as long as we share a collective belief, then that belief becomes part of our reality. He recalls, “I kept thinking about how much of these systems that govern our social world depend on people’s beliefs in those systems.” Dr. Lewis adds, “And, of course, the discipline that was really established to study belief systems and other thoughts and behaviors is psychology. And so that’s one of the reasons I ended up pivoting from economics to psychology.”

When discussing his graduate school opportunities and choices, Dr. Lewis states, “I wanted to go to graduate school, not just to learn about psychological processes and social issues. I also wanted to use my knowledge to develop some interventions that could hopefully do some good in the world.” There are many schools in Michigan that offer graduate degrees in psychology and Dr. Lewis shares why he selected the University of Michigan to earn his MS and PhD in Social Psychology. Among other reasons, he found there was a cluster of faculty at the University of Michigan who were really focused on conducting intervention research and that was something in which he was very interested.

Dr. Lewis is the director of the Motivation & Goal Pursuit Lab at Cornell and is known for his research on psychology and social issues, particularly on topics related to inequality, motivation, and well-being. He is a big advocate of applied research and helping to make policy changes at the local, regional, and national levels. However, there is one way to communicate in the academic world and a different way to communicate with policymakers. Dr. Lewis states, “academia is sort of oriented towards the ‘sage on the stage’ model of communication. Like, I have the knowledge and I just need to give it to you and then, once I give it to you, you will know and then you will do all the right things. And that’s just not how other contexts work.” He says that you should start from a more humble place and ask, “how can I help?”

What is his advice for students and others who want to work in the field of social psychology? He emphasizes the importance of staying curious and remaining humble as key attributes to success. The field of social psychology is trying to understand some really complex interactions between people and the environment so staying curious is crucial. Some people may become super confident in the field when they make predictions regarding how people will behave in certain environments, but researchers are constantly surprised when people don’t act the way they predicted. Dr. Lewis reminds us that “staying curious about what’s happening around you and being humble about the fact that you might be wrong is an important thing to be successful in this field.”

Connect with Neil Lewis, Jr.: LinkedIn | Twitter | Threads | WebsiteConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/858791911

Interests and Specializations

Dr. Lewis’s research primarily focuses on how people’s social contexts and identities influence how they make sense of the world around them, and how this impacts their motivation to pursue different goals in life. He looks at the consequences on individuals, communities, organizations, and the societies in which the individuals are embedded.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Economics (2013); Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.Master of Science (MS), Social Psychology (2015); University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Social Psychology (2017); University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Dr. Neil Lewis Jr.: Google ScholarDr. Neil Lewis Jr.: Open Science FrameworkDr. Neil Lewis Jr.: FiveThirtyEightDr. Neil Lewis Jr.: The Atlantic (Contributing writer)Dr. Neil Lewis Jr.: Student Experience Research NetworkDr. Neil Lewis Jr.: Social Psychology 11th Edition @Amazon

Podcast Transcript

00:13 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. Neil Lewis, Jr. to the show. Dr. Lewis is an Associate Professor of Communication and Social Behavior at Cornell University and Associate Professor of Communication Research in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Lewis is a behavioral scientist who studies how social interventions and policies can motivate behavioral changes to promote equitable outcomes in society. He completed his doctorate in social psychology from the University of Michigan. He received the Early Career Scholar Award from the International Communication Association, the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association of Psychological Science, and Cornell's Research and Extension Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Science and Public Policy. Today, we will learn more about his academic and professional journey, more about his dual appointment, and hear his advice for those interested in the field of social psychology. Dr. Lewis, welcome to our podcast.

01:33 NeilThank you so much for having me on the show.

01:35 BradleyWell, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to be with us. One of the fun things as I was telling you before we started recording for me is to be able to do some of the research and look at your journey. And even though I've had other social psychologists on here on the podcast, yours is a very unique journey as well. So, you started off with your bachelor’s, you received your bachelor's degree in economics at Cornell University. So, tell me a little bit more about your undergraduate experiences and when you first became interested in psychology.

02:08 NeilYeah, I mean, undergrad was interesting and I, like, explored a lot of things during that time. You know, I studied economics in part because I really enjoyed them as a subject in high school, I had a great high school economics teacher who really sparked that interest in economics. But I also thought it was a practical degree to get. You know, I wanted to be employable at the end of my undergraduate journey, and so that was always something in the back of my mind. But the most interesting part of economics for me were the parts that were fundamentally psychological. Right. So,

Since high school, Jessica Sinarski knew that she wanted to be a therapist. She found that empathy was a strength of hers and she wanted to lean into it. She originally didn’t want to work with kids but that all changed during an internship she had in graduate school at Boston College. She thought that she would work in the marriage and family counseling space or in premarital counseling but then everything shifted when she had a couple of kids in foster care on her caseload. Jessica recalls, “I found my calling.”

Jessica is a Licensed Professional Counselor of Mental Health (LPCMH) and a highly sought-after therapist, speaker, and instigator of hope. Her extensive post-graduate training and 15+ years as a clinician and educator led her to create the resource and training platform called BraveBrains which is “a resource and training platform for K-12 educators and beyond. Using innovative solutions rooted in brain science, we empower children and adults to reach their full potential.” In this podcast, Jessica discusses her academic and professional journey, how the mission and vision of BraveBrains has transformed over the years, and how she makes Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practical, available, and easy to understand for parents and professionals.

During her internship at Boston College, she was at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). Jessica shares “there were several kids in foster care on my caseload, and it was just heartbreaking. Growing up’s hard enough. And then there not only was there instability at home, but these seemed to be the kids that got passed around professionally as well and that broke my heart.” Her first job out of graduate school was at a foster adoption child welfare support agency in the South Bronx in New York City “and it became very clear, very quickly that I didn’t know what I needed to know to be helpful” so she studied to become certified as an adoption therapist. She also learned about attachment in the brain and Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson’s work around The Whole-Brain Child and making brain science really accessible. Jessica worked alongside Jonathan Baylin who is ”just a brain nerd, he just loves neuroscience. He’s a clinical psychologist and the author, co-author of a couple books and we would, we would talk about this stuff.”

Jessica is the author of multiple books including Your Amazing Brain, the award-winning Riley the Brave series, and Light Up the Learning Brain. One of her newest books is Riley the Brave’s Big Feelings Activity Book: A Trauma-Informed Guide for Counselors, Educators, and Parents. She admits “it’s kind of funny to me that I’m a therapist who writes kids’ books now. I mean, I write other books too, but I didn’t like therapeutic kids’ books. I very rarely found one that I liked. There are more out now that are great, but I struggled to find things that kids could relate to and so, I guess, that’s part of my passion now is how do we make the tough stuff a little less tough?”

Jessica offers a multitude of advice to those interested in the field of psychology, social work, and especially those interested in opening their own practice or business. She points out “I haven’t seen a school yet that actually talks about or has a course on how do you open and run and maintain a business or a practice.” So, she says don’t be afraid to ask for help. She states, “You don’t have to have everything figured out” and remember “the value of collaborating and networking, especially if you’re going into private practice like solo private practice because it can be so lonely.”

What other advice does Jessica offer? Pay attention to what lights you up. She says, “Pay attention to your passion because you’re much more likely to be persistent with it if you are passionate about it, that’s grit 101, right?” In response to my question “what’s one of the most important things you’ve learned in your life thus far?”, Jessica responds “we can’t give what we don’t have and so doing the healing work ourselves is essential…I think it’s just essential that we know and heal ourselves if we’re trying to be people who know and offer healing presence to others.” 

Connect with Jessica Sinarski: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YoutubeConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/855875080

Interests and Specializations

Jessica Sinarski has extensive post-graduate training and over 15 years as a clinician and educator both, of which, have led her to create the resource and training platform called BraveBrains. Jessica makes social emotional learning practical, equipping parents, and professionals with deeply trauma-informed tools. Jessica was awarded the national Voice for Adoption Drenda Lakin Memorial Award in 2021 in recognition of her valuable post-placement support and services to families who have achieved permanence for children in the child welfare system.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Psychology and Spanish (2003); Taylor University, Upland, IN.Master of Arts (MA), Counseling Psychology (2005); Boston College Lynch School, Chestnut Hill, MA.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Jessica Sinarski @AmazonJessica Sinarski: National Center Youth IssuesDr. Dan Siegel's Hand Model of the Brain

Podcast Transcript

00:00:14 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 Jessica Sinarski to the show. Jessica is a licensed professional counselor of mental health, author, speaker, instigator of hope, and founder of BraveBrains. Weaving user-friendly brain science into everything she does, Jessica ignites both passion and know-how in audiences. She partners with school districts and child welfare agencies around the world to unlock resilience in children and adults alike. Today, we will learn more about her academic and professional journey, more about BraveBrains and her new book, as well as how to make brain science accessible and understandable for both parents and children. Jessica, welcome to our podcast.

00:01:13 JessicaThanks for having me, Brad. I'm. Glad to be here.

00:01:15 BradleyWell, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us. I'm excited to talk about your journey. The first thing I want to ask you is can you tell us a little bit more about your journey and what led you to become a Licensed Professional Counselor in Mental Health (LPCMH)?

00:01:32 JessicaSure. So, I am one of the rare people I feel like who didn't change majors. I kind of knew from, from toward the end of high school that I wanted to be a therapist, that really appealed to me. I think as is true for many in the helping fields, my own trauma background probably played into it. And I had gotten some help as a kid. And found that, you know, empathy was a strength and so just was excited about leaning into that a bit. I think if I had to do it over again knowing I didn't know that I wanted to work with kids necessarily. In fact, I thought I didn't want to work with kids. And if I had known the path, I would end up on, I would have gone the licensed clinical social worker route. But we don't know these things when we when we're on our journey and it's been fine.

00:02:34 BradleyAnd I don't think, you know, where you ended up, whether or not you had one or the other, probably wouldn't have made a huge difference.

00:02:43 JessicaNo, I think the only reason I mentioned that is particularly in the child welfare field because and moving states a couple of times as I did as an adult, that the license as a as a master's level mental health professional master's level counselor is different from state to state whereas the clinical social work license is much more widely recognized and uniform. And I think that that sort of red tape hoopla would have been a smoother experience.

00:03:21 BradleyNo, that's a very good point, because what, what some states view as an LPCMH may view as a different certification as well as some other certification. So, let's return to your academic journey. I did notice that you received your BA in psychology and Spanish from Taylor University. So, tell us a little bit more about your undergraduate experiences and when did you know that psychology was for you? Was it even before your undergrad?

00:03:48 JessicaIt was. It was so in high school it really. This is like the little-known fact at one point I wanted to be an actor, singer-songwriter. As happens so but I'm also like super practical. So, I didn't I decided I didn't want the busy lifestyle that would be needed for that. I wanted a more flexible career and that was one of the things that appealed to me about being a therapist in particular is that sort of like, to some extent, make your own hours, and I knew I wanted a family, and so thinking ahead about what that could all look like factored in. So, then I went into undergraduate right out of high school with psychology and Spanish as majors. I have had, I had wanted to learn Spanish well since I was a kid, my best friend in kindergarten spoke Spanish and I you know little me just wanted to learn. I had a little notebook that I would write down words in, so I took Spanish in high school and then again in college and continued to in my adulthood, try to become fluent. I wouldn't say so. I speak Spanish, you know, I get rusty when I'm out of practice for a while and all of that, but that was also important to me.

00:05:11 BradleyYeah, it is true, especially with the languages use it or lose it…

00:05:15 JessicaSo true.

00:05:16 Bradley…because if you don't use it on an everyday basis. So,

Rebecca Kase grew up in Missouri and attended the University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU). She declared psychology as her major early in her freshman year of college, right after her first psychology 101 class. She recalls, “I love this. I get it. This makes sense to me. Something just really clicked inside, and I really felt like this is my path.” She also loved taking neuroscience classes and ultimately graduated in about 3 ½ years with a number of graduate level courses in her pocket. Rebecca then took a year to do volunteer work with AmeriCorps helping tutor inner-city elementary school kids in St. Louis, MO and she loved the experience. She used this experience and time to help figure out the next step in her academic journey. She knew she needed to go to graduate school because she thought she couldn’t really do anything with her bachelor’s in psychology, so she considered getting her master’s in counseling, social work, or psychology. In this podcast, Rebecca shares her journey and advice for those faced with a similar decision and discusses how she turned her passion into a successful, and prominent, training and consulting company, Kase & CO, which specializes in comprehensive Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and trauma training for psychotherapists.

Throughout this podcast, Rebecca shares her experience and offers practical advice for those considering a career in psychology, social work, or counseling. She chose to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW); however, her advice can be applied to those in the counseling or psychology fields as well. How do you decide on which path to take or in which university or program to enroll? Rebecca says, “consider your end goal.” She suggests asking yourself “Where do I want to end up and based on what I want for my career, which program seems to fit best?” She also reminds us that “where we think we’re going to end up, isn’t necessarily where we end up.” For example, she admits that she never thought she would own one of the largest EMDR training programs in the country and that she would love running a business but that is exactly what she is doing with Kase & CO Training and Consulting.

Rebecca started EMDR training while she was still in graduate school, so she has been practicing EMDR since 2006. She started her LLC in 2009 and as her LLC grew, she became a trainer and consultant. In 2017, Rebecca started diving into Polyvagal theory as it “really resonated” and helped “explain why our nervous system does what it does.” After looking into Polyvagal theory, she realized that she could combine EMDR and Polyvagal theory to help supercharge therapy and the recovery process, so she started incorporating the two into her training and consulting at Kase & CO and has seen its incredible impact on her clients and their clients. Rebecca is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and has been practicing yoga since she was 15 years old. She shares “it has been my saving grace and saved my life multiple times emotionally and physically.” She has integrated yoga into her EMDR training as she points out “research shows that yoga therapy is incredibly useful and powerful to bring into your sessions with clients no matter their presentation or diagnosis.” One of the 8 phases of EMDR focuses on preparation and where you learn about regulation skills and where you build somatic awareness. She says that yoga helps clients who have learned to “check out” from their feelings and sensations and who don’t know how to feel their body.

Rebecca is the author of Polyvagal-Informed EMDR: A Neuro-Informed Approach to Healing (W.W. Norton & Company, May 23, 2023). She said the book started as her pandemic project. She began pulling her thoughts and experiences together and organized them in such a way that one of her friends said “Rebecca, you have a book here.” She explains that both Polyvagal Theory and EMDR offer powerful pathways to healing. She states “and so EMDR gives us this user manual for understanding memory as it contributes to health and wellness, disease, or pathology. Polyvagal Theory talks about what happens in our bodies. But it’s not just one or the other, it’s both. And so that’s why I found that integrating these two gives us this really robust inclusive framework for looking at the whole neurobiological picture when we’re working with common clinical presentations.”

So, how did Rebecca find her passion and decide to open her own business? She states, “I followed my heart and my intuition every step of the way, which is my biggest bit of advice, listen to your heart, your intuition, and your body will always know.”

Connect with Rebecca Kase: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | WebsiteConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/852519721

Interests and Specializations

Rebecca Kase specializes in comprehensive Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and trauma training for psychotherapists. Founded in 2017, Kase & CO Training and Consulting is one of the top training providers in the US. They are an approved continuing education provider with EMDRIA, APA, and NBCC. Their structured courses are unique in the field, with dynamic live and on-demand formats designed to keep you engaged and learning.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Psychology; University of Missouri - Mizzou, Columbia, MO.Master of Social Work (MSW), Social Work (2007); University of Denver, Denver, CO.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Rebecca Kase: EMDR International AssociationRebecca Kase: EMDR ConferenceRebecca Kase @Amazon: Polyvagal-Informed EMDR: A Neuro-Informed Approach to Healing

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 Rebecca Kase to the show. Rebecca is a force of nature. She is a licensed clinical social worker, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing consultant and trainer, registered yoga teacher and owner of Kase & CO Training and Consulting and EMDR training company. She is an inspirational speaker, author, thought leader, and advanced trauma expert. Her work has been featured in books, articles, podcasts, keynotes, conferences, and workshops. Today, we will learn more about her academic and professional journey, more about her training and consulting practice, and how teaching EMDR through the lens of Polyvagal theory helps supercharge therapy and the recovery process. Rebecca, welcome to our podcast.

01:21 RebeccaHey Brad, so excited to be here. Thanks for sharing space with me.

01:26 BradleyWell, thank you for being on the show with us. I'm excited to talk about your journey and as you've seen probably in other episodes of our podcast, we love talking about your background, your journey, a little bit more and then talking about what you're doing with your credentials, your experience. So, to start off, you know, can you tell us a little bit more about your background and the journey that led you to become a licensed clinical social worker and EMDR expert, consultant, and trainer and then eventually owner of Kase & CO?

01:58 RebeccaYeah, absolutely. So, I got my undergrad in psychology. I declared my major in psych pretty early, I think my freshman year, after I went to my first psych 101 class and I was just like oh my gosh, I love this. I get it. This makes sense to me. Something just really clicked inside, and I really felt like this is my path. I didn't know exactly what my path would look like, but I knew it was along the field of psychology. So, I took a deep dive in undergrad. I graduated early actually and graduated with a number of graduate level courses, uhm, in my pocket because I just loved going to class. I loved taking neuroscience classes. So, I graduated in about 3 1/2 years with my bachelors in Psych. And then I took kind of a break year to figure out what's the next step. And in that break year, I did some volunteer work with an amazing group called AmeriCorps. Probably a lot of people have heard of it. I bet a lot of people in this podcast have actually volunteered with AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps is an awesome organization, nonprofit, that works in a lot of different settings. And so I was in St. Louis, MO. And so, I was in an inner-city school, and I did inner city tutoring with elementary school kids. And I absolutely loved it. And as I was taking kind of that break year that gap year and volunteering with AmeriCorps, I was also trying to figure out what's the next step. I know I gotta go to grad school because I can't really do anything with the bachelors in psych. And there's so many options do I wanna get a doctorate? Do I wanna get a master's in counseling or do I do I wanna do social work? What is social work? And so, I started really comparing programs. And a couple of things that finally landed me in social work. One my experience in AmeriCorps was very much I feel a social work kind of experience. You know, I was working with these kids who came from the inner city of Saint Louis living in poverty, had a lot of A scores. I didn't know about the A study back then, but had a lot of adverse childhood experiences, really struggling in school. Often had a lot of chaos in their family lives and so I felt really involved and engaged in multiple systems of their experience of their day-to-day lives and systems was very much a focus of social work. So, there was something that kind of primed the pump with that. And then as I was looking at different programs, I was certainly interested in some master's in counseling programs and looking at social work programs and, to be completely honest,

Dr. Lauren Cook grew up loving theater, performing arts, and public speaking. She also loves the intimacy of the one-on-one connection and having deeper conversations. As an undergraduate student, Dr. Cook recalls being more interested in journalism, in fact, she had an internship at NBC News and E! and thought that is what she wanted to do because she loved the storytelling component of it. However, when she saw the lifestyle of the journalist (always on the go, always on the road), she reconsidered and thought that she could bring the storytelling component of journalism into psychology by helping people understand their stories and helping them on their journey. This is one of the reasons why she pivoted into psychology along with knowing that “one of the most rewarding aspects of our job is really feeling like we are making a difference in people’s lives.”

In this podcast, Dr. Lauren Cook shares her academic and professional journey, explains why she earned a PsyD instead of a PhD, and discusses how she has applied her experience, passion, and degrees to create her own personalized career where she could focus on clinical psychology, professional speaking, consulting, and writing. She shares how she created the opportunities to satisfy all of her passions and how to maintain a work-life balance.

Dr. Cook shares “it was always a dream of mine to have a private practice. And I would meet so many clinicians who were so afraid of having a private practice. ‘That seems impossible. How do you do it? I’m interested, but I just don’t even know where to begin.’ You know, it actually, it wasn’t too hard. I feel like if you want to do it, and you’re willing to ask other people who have done it, it’s very much possible.” She discusses how she started her own private practice called Heartship Psychological Services in Pasadena, CA during the pandemic. She always thought she would (or should?) have a brick and mortar, however, she now questions the need for one as most of her clients are virtual and PSYPACT exists now where if you are licensed in one state, you have the ability to provide services for people in other states. She is excited to see how PSYPACT plays out as it may mean that practitioners don’t need to have a traditional office as in the past. Dr. Cook also shares how she finds the majority of her clients (it’s probably not what you’re thinking…find out more around 22 minutes into our conversation).

Dr. Cook is a professional speaker with CAMPUSPEAK and shares how she got started when she went by “The Sunny Girl” and spoke about all of the happiness research. Her very first book, The Sunny Side Up! Celebrating Happiness was published in April 2013. Since then, she has published a couple more books including Name Your Story: How to Talk Openly About Mental Health While Embracing Wellness (2017) and her newest book Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World (2023). Dr. Cook states “I really wanted to tailor it to millennials and Gen Z and also the family members who are supporting millennial and Gen Z person, we are just seeing anxiety go through the roof. I’m very candid about my own lived experience with anxiety and how I’ve been able to work through that in my own life. And so, I really wanted to give people the tools to really figure out how to cope with anxiety and it’s through what I call ‘empowered acceptance.’”

Not only is Dr. Cook available for speaking engagements (keynotes, seminars, courses, etc.), but she also offers consulting services, professional development, and clinical psychology services dealing with anxiety management, life transitions, couples dynamics, effective decision making, and identity development. She also enjoys doing her podcast, The Boardroom Brain, in which she has “insightful conversations with CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders as we explore what makes up the psychology of success.” When asked what she loves most about her job, Dr. Cook responded, “That is a tough question. You got me there. You know, it really, I’d say, is a tie between working one-on-one with my therapy clients and my speaking. They’re so different and my soul is a little bit of a Yin-Yang.” She explains that the performing aspect of speaking engagements fills her bucket for theater and the performing arts while the clinical work and therapy fills her bucket for having deeper conversations and passion to help others.

What advice does Dr. Cook have for those interested in the field of psychology? She offers many pieces of practical advice including going to therapy yourself. “The best way to see what this work looks like is to go to therapy and you can watch someone in real time doing the work with you and start to ask yourself, ‘would I be happy doing this work 8 plus hours a day?’” She also suggests jumping straight into the doctoral program if you know that you ultimately want to earn a PsyD or PhD. At the same time, she believes that it is important to be honest about the expectations of getting into a PhD or PsyD program. Depending on the university and program, acceptance rates for clinical psychology programs may range from 3% to 15% while acceptance rates for PhD programs in other subfields of psychology such as developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, or social psychology, can vary between 8% to 25% or more. PsyD programs are more practitioner-focused than PhD programs and typically have slightly higher acceptance rates and may range from 20% to 35% or higher. Dr. Cook states “only 8 people out of 800 get into UCLA’s PhD program, for example, so, obviously, those programs are highly competitive.” Therefore, students may “have to be willing to move to Wisconsin” or some other area of the country as it is highly competitive at the top-ranked, well-known PhD programs.

When asked what essential skills or qualities she believes all psychology students should cultivate during their education and training, Dr. Cook stated “I’d say two key things. One is really having that empathy, that compassion for others. At the end of the day, I really do feel like this is a career about helping and serving other people. And so really having a passion to, you know, connect with other human beings, we were talking about that at the very beginning of the show. And see where you feel called and where you feel drawn.”

Dr. Cook shares that she lives and breathes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). She states, “I’m a big Steven Hayes fan and love all things ACT.” Near the end of our conversation, Dr. Cook re-emphasizes her love for the field of psychology by stating “I will say it’s rare that I find a provider who doesn’t love what they do. It’s rare that someone tells me they regret entering this field. So, if you feel like you have the passion and you want to do it, it is the best thing to be a part of, and so I hope everybody listening finds their right fit.”

Connect with Dr. Lauren Cook: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tiktok | YoutubeConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/851106216

Interests and Specializations

Dr. Cook specializes in anxiety by helping individuals and couples work through generalized anxiety, social anxiety, phobias, OCD, and more. She takes a multiculturally-informed approach that examines the intersectional identities of a person in the context of their own environment and applies third-wave tenets (e.g., CBT, ACT, DBT) to help teams apply mindfulness, cognitive flexibility, and values-identification for intentional living.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Psychology & Communications (2013); University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.Master of Science (MS), Marriage & Family Therapy (2016); University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Clinical Psychology (2020); Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Dr. Lauren Cook: Psychology TodayDr. Lauren Cook: Generation Anxiety book at Amazon

Podcast Transcript

00:12 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. Lauren Cook to the show. Dr. Cook is a clinical psychologist, professional speaker, consultant, and author. She began her training at UCLA, where she majored in psychology and communication studies. She earned her Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California. Dr. Cook then completed her doctorate in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University. She is the founder of Heartship Psychological Services in Pasadena, CA, and she is also a professional speaker with CAMPUSPEAK. Today, we will learn more about her academic and professional journey, more about Heartship Psychological Services, and hear more about her forthcoming book, Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World. Dr. Cook, welcome to our podcast.

01:19 LaurenBrad, thanks so much for having me on. Glad we're doing this.

01:22 BradleyI appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us. I'm excited to go through your journey. I noticed, first off, that you received your bachelor's degree in psychology and communication studies. I also received my communication study undergraduate as well, interpersonal grad as well. So, I can relate to you, but I see you received that from UCLA. You know, overall, can you tell us about your journey to become a psychologist and what motivated you to pursue this career path?

01:51 LaurenAbsolutely. Yeah. You know, it's it's interesting. When I got started in undergrad,

Dr. Kimberly Berens grew up around psychology as her father was a psychiatrist. Her mother was a biologist, so she was also very interested in the natural sciences. She recalls that family dinner time conversations were always interesting as they talked about various mental health issues, general psychology, and human behavior and development. As a result, Dr. Berens originally planned on majoring in biology and minoring in psychology when she started her undergraduate career at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. Although her introduction to psychology class was unique in that each section of it was taught by a professor known in that area of psychology, she was somewhat unimpressed as she “didn’t see a lot of science involved in those sections.” However, that all changed when Dr. Maria Ruiz, her first mentor, walked into the classroom. Dr. Berens shares that Dr. Ruiz was “teaching the section on behavior science and that day changed my life forever because it was at that moment that I discovered that actually there is a natural science of human behavior, and that is what behavior science is.” She ended up switching her major from biology to psychology and Dr. Ruiz remained her mentor through her time at Rollins and beyond.

Dr. Berens shares her academic and professional journey in this podcast and reveals how she applied her degrees in psychology and behavioral science to co-create a powerful system of instruction based on behavioral science and the technology of teaching, which has transformed the learning abilities of thousands of students worldwide. As a doctoral student at the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Berens founded Fit Learning in a broom closet on campus and has expanded her business to more than 31 locations worldwide with 3 to 5 new locations opening each year. For more than 20 years, her system of instruction has produced one year’s worth of academic growth in only 40 hours of training.

In addition to Dr. Maria Ruiz, Dr. Berens discusses how other mentors have helped influence and shape her knowledge, career, and passion for helping improve the education and quality of life for students. She discusses, among others, Dr. Elbert (Eb) Blakely, Dr. Ogden Lindsley, and Dr. Seven C. Hayes who also appeared as a guest of the Master’s in Psychology Podcast in November, 2022. She explains that she received her theoretical basic science mentor in Maria and her clinical and applied mentor in Eb. Steven was another one of her mentors while in undergraduate school and she recalls, “I knew that I had found what I was going to do for the rest of my life.”

Dr. Berens explains why she attended the University of Nevada for her doctorate in behavioral sciences and provides advice to those who are interested in the field of psychology or behavioral sciences. She recommends that you find a mentor who you look up to and who is doing research in the area of study you are interested in so that you can learn from them. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and say, “I’m looking for a mentor” or “I’m looking for someone to guide me through the process of potentially exploring doctoral training or masters training in the field.” You may be surprised to learn how many faculty members are overjoyed when a student seeks them out for help and asks them to be their mentor.

Dr. Berens also discusses her newest book, Blind Spots: Why Students Fail and the Science That Can Save Them. Close to 70% of kids are now below proficiency in all academic subjects in America and this increases to more than 80% for students of color and those living in poverty. Dr. Berens explains “the reason is because science isn’t used in instruction and teachers aren’t trained in science and education is actually an ideological institution, not a pragmatic or scientific one.” We discuss the fact that most teachers are not taught how to effectively teach. We have all had that teacher or professor who obviously knew their subject but didn’t know how to teach it to their students. Dr. Beren’s states, “one of the greatest misunderstandings is that a subject matter expert will naturally be able to teach that subject, and if a student can’t learn from a subject matter expert, then that means something’s wrong with the student because there couldn’t possibly be something wrong with the subject matter expert because they’re so brilliant at their subject matter.”

Dr. Berens believes education is more important than ever right now and it is time for our educational system to evolve. Blind Spots is a book that every parent, teacher, and policymaker should read as it explains the dismal situation the American education system is in but also provides hope and a system of instruction based on learning, behavioral, and cognitive sciences that markedly improves how students understand and achieve when science is at the heart of instruction. She believes “when you’re not training teachers to be more effective, when you’re not actually bringing science into the design of instruction, nothing is going to change.” She points out that “just because kids fail academically doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with their brains. It doesn’t mean they have a learning disability. It doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with them. That means that there’s actually something wrong with the way they’re being instructed. There’s actually something wrong with the way schools are designed and teachers are trained, but that’s a difficult thing to get people to understand and not do it in a way that offends people and makes people defensive.”

When asked what she loves most about her job, Dr. Berens response was “the best thing about my job is changing a kid’s life. You know, you have a kid who’s coming in and has been told they’ll never learn to read. Has been told that they have something wrong with them.” She further explains “And having an opportunity to actually produce an unbelievable level of mastery and competency with that learner very quickly in an area that they were told they’d never master. That is life changing, and it’s not just life changing for the kid. It’s life changing for the team who gets to have the power to do that for that kid and it’s life changing for the whole family. So, my, you know, the best part of my job is transforming kids’ lives. That’s it. Period.”

Connect with Dr. Kimberly Nix Berens: LinkedIn | Twitter | FacebookConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

https://vimeo.com/852246585

Interests and Specializations

Dr. Berens applies behavior science to rapidly accelerate academic and cognitive skills with kids and adults. She specializes in applying natural science to instruction and to the education of students. She co-created a system of instruction based on behavioral science and the technology of teaching, which has proven to produce one year’s worth of academic growth in only 40 hours of training.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Psychology (1996); Rollins College, Winter Park, FL.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Behavioral Sciences (2005); University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV.

Other Sources and Links of Interest

Dr. Kimberly Nix Berens: AmazonDr. Kimberly Nix Berens: Simon & SchusterDr. Kimberly Nix Berens: Psychology Today

Podcast Transcript

00:12 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. Kimberly Nix Berens to the show. Dr. Berens is a scientist-educator, Founder of Fit Learning, and author of Blind Spots: Why Students Fail and the Science That Can Save Them. She co-created a powerful system of instruction based on behavioral science and the technology of teaching. Dr. Berens has expanded her business by establishing a formal certification and licensure program to the point where Fit Learning now has 31 locations worldwide, with 3 to 5 new locations every year. Today, we will learn more about her academic and professional journey, more about Fit Learning, and hear her advice to those interested in following a similar career path. Dr Berens, welcome to our podcast.

01:13 KimberlyHi, thanks for having me.

01:15 BradleyWell, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to talk with us. As you are aware, we kind of go through your academic and professional journey and I see, first off, that you received your bachelor's degree in psychology from Rollins, Collins Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. Based on my research, it appears that those years at Rollins were very instrumental, as you found a couple of important mentors. Can you share with us your journey and background in the field of psychology and education that led you to your career path?

01:46 KimberlyYes, well, you know, I grew up around psychology because my father was a psychiatrist, so we always would have, you know, our dinner time conversations were always pretty interesting, you know, talking about various mental health issues and just general psychological, you know, questions I had about human behavior and so I, you know, I kind of grew up interested in in human behavior, to be quite honest. But my mother was a biologist, so I was also very interested in the natural sciences. So, when I ended up at Rollins College, which is a really small liberal arts College in Florida, I was actually planning on majoring in biology and minoring in psych. And then you know, I started taking my first intro to psychology course and I have to say, you know, the intro to psych course at Rollins was broken into sections. And so, each professor that specialized in that area of psychology taught that section. And so, you know, we went through the normal personality and neurosis, you know, neuropsychology and, you know,