Psych Mic

Alpana Choudhury, LMHC, founded Wove Therapy in 2018 as a response to the constant request for counseling that takes intersectionality and systems into account. Having worked with clients from all kinds of backgrounds and life experience, Alpana recognizes the need to have an informed and open perspective in order to truly be present. Her approach is eclectic, caring, and incredibly honest.

Alpana completed her BA in Psychology from Barnard College and her MA in Counseling Psychology from New York University. She has a background in applied psychology research, having presented at the Association for Psychological Sciences and managed projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. She is an active member of the New York Mental Health Counselors Association.

Topics we cover:

1. What were your early introductions & orientations to career possibilities?
2. Why did you move away from medicine and towards psychology?
3. Does a psychology major equip you to go into the profession in mental health?
4. What aspects of your experiences in research made you want to pursue a clinical path?
5. What advice do you have for students right now in undergrad who perhaps are doing something that isn't directly related to what they want to do, and how they can make the most of it?
6. When and how did you decide that you wanted your masters instead of matriculating into a doctorate?
7. Is a master’s enough to be a good clinician?
8. How does privilege play out in who gets included and excluded in this field?
9. Can you break down the path through an MA in counseling to licensure?
10. Dealing with loans and debt
11. Why did opening a private practice appeal to you?
12. What sparked your desire to open a private practice with an intersectional lens?
13. What does your day to day life look like as the founder of your private practice?
14. What is burnout and compassion fatigue, and how do you cope with it?
15. Why is self-care important?
16. Do you still seek supervision?
17. What are some real practices that you use to approach therapy from an intersectional perspective? 
18. How do you use an intersectional perspective in therapy without accidentally generalizing the experiences of marginalized groups onto the client?
19. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went?

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

The why, how, what, and who of Psych Mic.

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Karen Cogan, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and certified consultant, AASP and currently serves as the sport psychologist for acrobat and combat sports at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. She has attended several Olympic Games as the sport psychology consultant for several Olympic medalists and their coaches. In 2000, she published her first book, Sport Psychology Library: Gymnastics, and her work has appeared in sport related journals. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, where she has served as the secretary treasurer and council representative for the Exercise and Sport Psychology Division 47 of APA. She also is a member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, where she has served on the executive board. Cogan earned her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Ohio State University and completed her clinical internship at the University of California, San Diego. She earned her master’s in kinesiology and B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles, where she was a member for the nationally ranked gymnastics team. 

In this episode, we cover: 

1. How did Karen’s early gymnastics career shape her desire to be a sports psychologist? 
2. As a gymnast on the UCLA Gymnastic’s team, what is a moment Karen really struggled? 
3. What is kinesiology, and why did Karen get her master’s in it? 
4. What are the different approaches and paths to this field? (e.g., clinical psychology training, mental skills training, sports/exercise science) 
5. What advice does Karen have around deciding on the right graduate program orientation? 
6. What is the difference between a counseling and a clinical psychology PhD? And why did Karen go with counseling? 
7. What should grad school applicants ask about the program? 
8. How did Karen gain experience in sport psychology during her counseling PhD? 
9. What were Karen’s career goals? 
10. Are sport psychologists qualified to work with any type of athlete, or do they specialize? 
11. How did Karen become a sport psychologist at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee? 
12. How much time does she spend traveling? What is the day to day like? 
13. What is it like to be a sport psychologist at the Olympic Games?
14. How do you work with an athlete who doesn’t perform their best under pressure?
15. What do you find is harder for athletes, staying motivated for long periods of time, or staying motivated after a big loss?
16. When working with an athlete for the first time, how do you start to build trust with them?
17. How do you balance input from many different professionals who are caring for the athletes (e.g., coaches, nutritionists, physical therapists, physicians)? 
18. Where does Karen see the future of this field going? 
19. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that served Karen no matter where she went? 

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Andrea Friedman, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist specializing in clinical health psychology and clinical neuropsychology.  Andrea earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Miami in 1995.  She completed her internship at the Boston VA Medical Center/Tufts University and her postdoctoral fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.  In addition to her private practice with Florida Medical Psychology Associates, she is also on staff at Tampa General Hospital.

Her current clinical practice focuses on providing mindfulness based cognitive behavioral therapy to adolescents, adults, and seniors. She offers individual therapy, assessment, as well as couples/marriage counseling.  She specializes in stress management, weight management, coping with chronic illness and/or chronic pain, mood and anxiety disorders (including social phobia, test/school anxiety, and health anxiety), positive psychology, parenting skills, life transitions, fertility, and bereavement.  She also offers gifted testing for Advanced Gifted Placement, memory/dementia evaluations, spinal cord stimulator placement evaluations, and donor egg/sperm fertility treatment evaluations. 

In this episode, we cover: 

1. Andie’s background as the descendent of Holocaust survivors. 
2. How her initial interest in psychology blossomed. 
3. Research experiences and outlook in undergrad. 
4. What advice does Andie have for current college students? 
5. The fear around reaching out to professors. 
6. Why was Andie interested in working with cancer patients? 
7. Self-doubt and the graduate school application process. 
8. How do you tackle your own self-doubt while training to be a clinician? 
9. What were Andie's first clinical experiences like at age 22? 
10. Research experiences in psychoneuroimmunology. 
11. Does implementing mental health support within medical settings also help with physical health outcomes?  
12. What is a clinical health psychologist? And how is this different from a clinical psychologist? 
13. Andie’s own experiences as a cancer patient and how they shaped her clinical practice. 
14. The future of mental health care. 

... and more!

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Bridget Henry, PhD, recently finished her postdoctoral fellowship at the McLean OCD Institute // Houston working under the supervision of Dr. Emily Anderson. Bridget earned her BA in Mathematics and Psychology from the University of South Florida. She received her MA in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego.  Her doctoral studies included a special emphasis on the relationship between physical and mental health. Bridget has experience and training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Exposure and Response Prevention. She received clinical training in San Diego delivering mental health services at a chronic pain clinic and integrated primary care. She also received special training in exposure therapy for Hoarding Disorder at the San Diego VA Medical Center, and she worked at the Center for Stress and Anxiety Management in San Diego treating adults and adolescents with anxiety disorders, OCD, PTSD, and depression. She completed an APA-accredited predoctoral clinical internship at the Battle Creek VA Medical Center, where she gained experience delivering evidence-based treatment in health care and inpatient mental health settings. Bridget is passionate about working together with individuals to overcome obstacles, utilize strengths, and develop skills to improve overall well-being and live a meaningful life. 

In this episode, we cover:

• If Bridget could shake her undergrad self by her shoulders and tell her something important, what would she tell her? 
• What was Bridget most proud of as an undergraduate? 
• Bridget double majored in psychology and math. How was she thinking about her psych major? Was it something to be pursued in its own right? Did she view it as an avenue to a career? 
• In Bridget’s eyes, what is the connection between psychology and math? 
• Why did Bridget make the leap of faith to move to San Diego after undergrad? 
• Why was myspace the catalyst for Bridget’s self-discovery? 
• How and why did Bridget set out to fail at as many things as possible? 
• What did bartending represent for Bridget? 
• 6 years after undergrad, why did Bridget finally decide to pursue her clinical psychology PhD? 
• Advice for prospective clinical psychology PhD students? 
• Why was she interested in health psychology, and why did that shift? 
• Why Bridget is so drawn to exposure therapy (listen for an epiphany!) 
• How much independence and creative freedom did Bridget have in grad school when designing interventions? 
• How did Bridget build trust and confidence in herself when working with clients early on? 
• What is acceptance and commitment therapy? 
• Why is ACT like an “owner’s manual to being human”? 
• Why did Bridget want to specialize in anxiety and OCD? 
• Working with OCD patients during COVID-19 
• How can we use our failures to better understand our strengths? 

...and more!

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Jackie Audi, MSN, PMHNP,  is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner currently working at Lifestance Health, providing psychopharmacology and brief, short term psychotherapy to children, adolescents, and adults. She completed her BS in Health/Medical Psychology from MCPHS University with an interest in public health, and completed her BSN/MSN from MGH Institute of Health Professions. In the past, she has worked as a mental health clinician on an inpatient psychiatric child and adolescent unit, as well as a registered psychiatric nurse on a substance use detoxification unit and a general psychiatry unit. Jackie is a member of the American Psychiatric Nurse Association (APNA), American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners (MCNP) and Massachusetts Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses (MAAPPN).

In this episode, we cover: 

• What does Jackie do as a Psych NP? 
• What does it mean that she works in outpatient? And what does she like about outpatient work? 
• Describing the nursing model of care 
• The importance of her health psych bachelor’s degree 
• What is motivational interviewing? 
• How did her undergraduate research and clinical experiences contribute to her interest in nursing? 
• How did Jackie market her research experiences when searching for her first clinical role? 
• Why nursing? 
• Why psych nursing? 
• Psychopharmacology and psychotherapy: doing both 
• What does day to day look like as an outpatient psych NP? 
• The interdisciplinarity of nursing  
• Can Psych NPs specialize even further? 
• What are some differences between psychiatry and psychiatric nursing? 
• What skills does Jackie use every day that help her become a better practitioner? 
• How does Jackie deal with the uncertainty of her job? 
• Strategies for self-care and relying on colleagues 
• What are some aspects of psych nursing that would make someone NOT want to pursue this route? How about TO pursue it? 
• What is something that prospective nurses should know about the job?
• How has Jackie’s curiosity helped her thrive?

... and more! Jackie highlights both the beauty and the difficulty of being in a caring profession.

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Maggie Dancel, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist in New York with a private practice located in Flatiron. She provide therapeutic services for individuals wanting support in any aspect of life, such as self-esteem, family relationships, trauma, and sex. She specializes in issues related to dating, romantic relationships, and intimacy (i.e., lack thereof, excessive masturbation, erectile dysfunction). 

In this episode, we cover: 

• What sparked Maggie’s passion in psychology? 
• Why did Maggie decide to pursue a PsyD over a PhD or a master’s? 
• Why did she go straight through to graduate school? 
• How did Maggie feel during her first experiences giving therapy?  
• Was it difficult to learn how to set boundaries with clients? 
• What was the process of receiving feedback from supervisors like? 
• How have you dealt with negative criticism?  
• What did Maggie enjoy the most about graduate school? 
• Going to therapy as a therapist 
• What training goes into sex therapy? 
• How has Maggie’s therapeutic style changed over time? 
• Why open a private practice? 
• What’s the licensure process like? 
• Why did Maggie move to NYC, where she knew no one? 
• How did Maggie establish herself professionally in NYC with no connections? 
• Benefits of private practice & administrative aspects 
• How do you acquire new clients? 
• Advice for aspiring clinical psychologists? 
• Is there a “language of a therapist”? 
• What do you wish you knew when you were 22? 

Maggie has a podcast of her own called Full Disclosure, where she and her colleague Dr. Julia Saenz talk about insights they've gained from their work as clinicians. Maggie's website is drmaggiedancel.com.

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Eric Connors, Ph.D is a neuropsychology postdoctoral fellow at Home Base. He is a Boston native and he obtained his Bachelor of Science at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Shortly after graduation, he moved to San Diego to complete his graduate studies at the APA-accredited Alliant International University. His first clinical experience involved conducting neuropsychological evaluations with those in the acute stages of recovery following an acquired brain injury. Witnessing firsthand the benefits of neurorehabilitation and the role of neuropsychology solidified Dr. Connors’ goal of becoming a neuropsychologist.

In 2018, Dr. Connors moved back to Massachusetts to complete a predoctoral neuropsychology internship at the Tewksbury Hospital; where he treated individuals with complex medical conditions, acquired brain injuries, and rare neurological disorders. Dr. Connors obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in the Summer of 2019. Now at Home Base, he is thrilled to have his neuropsychology training come full circle back to Boston and to have the opportunity to work with Veterans and their families.

In this episode, we cover:

• What is neuropsychology and what do neuropsychologists do?
• What does working with a patient look like? 
• Are neuropsychologists therapists too? 
• Why did Eric switch from pre-med to psychology? 
• When and why did he decide on a clinical psychology PhD? 
• What did Eric do to prepare him for a PhD? 
• How does Eric advise undergrads to get clinical experience in neuropsychology? 
• What is training like in grad school? And what was his favorite site?
• How do you deal with getting thrown into unfamiliar clinical settings?
• What’s the relationship between your research and your clinical work?
• Where can neuropsychologists work?
• What does the day to day of a neuropsychologist look like?
• How do you find quality experiences?
• What are some ways you wish to challenge the status quo in your field?
• What do you wish you knew when you were 22?
• Where does Eric see himself in the future?
• Words of advice for the Psych Mic audience?
• And so much more!  

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Melinda Macht-Greenberg, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who earned her doctorate from Ferkauf in Clinical, Developmental, and School Psychology at Yeshiva University in NY.  She offers consultation to parents, individual and family therapy, and educational advising.  Dr. Macht-Greenberg works with families experiencing significant stressors and offers therapy for children, adolescents, and adults with anxiety, depression, ADHD, Autism and other emotional struggles. She provides a comprehensive, integrated assessment of the psychological and educational needs of children. She is also a consultant to businesses, schools, law firms, and community organizations.  She is also on faculty at Tufts University in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development.

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Growing up with parents in the mental health care space
• What did Melinda do in undergrad to prepare her well for a PhD?
• How and why did schools become an integral part of Melinda's clinical practice?
• Why was it important for her to get inpatient experience in addition to her outpatient experience?
• Why Melinda ultimately chose outpatient?
• The most important things she learned at her first job
• The benefits of working at a group practice
• Why Melinda transitioned from mainly providing therapy to mainly consulting for individuals, families, schools, and other organizations
• What does it mean to be a consultant? How is consulting different from therapy?
• If Melinda could shout from the rooftops, what is a message she’d want to relay?
• What is Melinda’s vision for schools?
• What does a week in the life look like?
• The importance of empathy and emotional intelligence
• If we’re interested in school psychology, where can we start to get experience?
• How do you reach and train teachers about child mental health?
• The role of culture in her work

​To submit questions for future speakers, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where I will be sending out job opportunities and tips for job searching related to the fields of our weekly speakers!

Music by: Adam Fine 

R. Eric Landrum, PhD, is a professor of psychology and department chair at Boise State University, receiving his PhD in cognitive psychology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His research interests center on the educational conditions that best facilitate student success. He has over 425 professional presentations at conferences and published 3 edited texts, 23 books/textbooks, 29 book chapters, and has published over 85 professional articles in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, a fellow in APA’s Division Two (Society for the Teaching of Psychology or STP), served as STP President (2014). During 2017-2018, he served as President of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. In August 2019, he received the American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award, the highest award given to teachers of psychology in America.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why psychology?
• Why did Eric decide to get a PhD? And why cognitive psychology?
• Moving past choice paralysis
• How to figure out if a graduate program is right for you
• How Eric leverages his privilege as a white male to advocate for others
• How does Eric see higher education changing over the next 20 years?
• Lessons from his research on strategies for student success
• New modalities for teaching that challenge the status quo (i.e., moving beyond the lecture model)
• Career resources for undergraduates
• What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has contributed most to Eric’s success?

Listen to Eric's PsychSession's podcast!

To submit questions for future speakers, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where I will be sending out job opportunities and tips for job searching related to the fields of our weekly speakers!

Music by: Adam Fine