Psych Mic: Recent Episodes

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Aline Holzwarth, MBA, is an applied behavioral scientist specializing in digital health research and scientifically informed product design. She is currently the head of behavioral science at Pattern Health and Principal at Dan Ariely's Center for Advanced Hindsight. She writes, "my training in psychology and business, and my experience in research and healthcare, have given her the kind of interdisciplinary lens that helps me appreciate the complexity of decision-making in the real world, particularly when it comes to the thorny domain of health. I am passionate about sharing behavioral insights with anyone who'll listen." See her website here.

Resources:

• Behavioral Science Graduate Guide
• Action Design Network
• Habit Weekly

During this live interview (want to attend future ones? Sign up here), we cover:

1. What is behavioral science?
2. What is the “applied” piece?
3. The value of dabbling
4. Why didn’t you get a PhD?
5. Why did you get an MBA?
6. If you lack experience in behavioral science: how do you start acquiring relevant experiences?
7. What kinds of research experiences are applicable to behavioral science roles?
8. When did you own the title of behavioral scientist?
9. Examples of behavioral science in digital health
10. The future of behavioral science
11. The paradox that ALL (or at least most) jobs require experience
12. Entry-level job titles in behavioral science
13. Where to network with behavioral scientists
14. How do priorities of industry (e.g., profit, efficiency) impact your work?
15. Advice for switching fields
16. What piece of advice would you give your undergrad self?
17. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Access Psychology Foundation is a nonprofit that works to increase inclusion, equity, and diversity in the field of mental health by providing historically underrepresented communities with access to evidence-based prevention and treatment, and by training the next generation of racially diverse mental health providers.

APF offers scholarships and grants to high school students, college students, graduate students, licensed professionals, schools, and organizations from historically underrepresented communities to help them:

1. gain exposure to the field of evidence-based clinical psychology
2. access high quality training and consultation in evidence-based treatments, and
3. access high quality training in working with clients of diverse backgrounds.

APF also offers scholarships and grants to people from historically underrepresented populations so they can obtain quality, evidence-based mental health treatment. Evidence-based treatments are those subjected to rigorous research trials demonstrating their effectiveness.

This episode is a conversation with APF co-founder, Alec Miller, PsyD, and APF Executive Director, Damian Travier.

TO FIND OUT MORE:

• The APF website is still under construction, but to find out more information about the opportunities discussed, you can reach out to Damian Travier at dtravier@access-psychology.com and mention that Psych Mic sent you!
• Listen to the Psych Mic interview with Dr. Alec Miller to learn about his career path in clinical psychology here.

We cover:

• how APF was founded
• why this nonprofit is so needed
• the nature of the mental health crisis in communities of color
• how APF is working to address the racial gap in mental health treatment and training
• and how you can get involved

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Amy Elliott, PhD, Chief Clinical Research Officer at Avera Research Institute, leads a research team focused on improving child health and development through community-based research. Dr. Elliott is the principal investigator on several National Institutes of Health (NIH) research projects including the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Study, an initiative to reduce infant mortality in American Indian communities. Dr. Elliott also holds professor and research positions at The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine.

Education:

• PhD from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Clinical Psychology
• MA from North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, Clinical Psychology
• BA from Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minnesota, Psychology

Topics we cover:

1. If there was one thing you wish everybody knew about child development, what would it be?
2. Why did you go into clinical psychology instead of medicine?
3. Why did you get a master’s before your PhD?
4. If you loved research, why did you want to get licensed as a clinician?
5. How did you choose your PhD program?
6. What was your grad school research on?
7. Having a baby in grad school - unique benefits & challenges
8. Why did you want to work with children?
9. What did your training look like in graduate school?
10. What was the most valuable part of your PhD?
11. Advice for students interested in Amy’s line of work
12. What does a pre-doctoral internship in behavioral pediatrics and genetics look like?
13. Working on interdisciplinary teams
14. When and why did you transition away from clinical work and into full-time research?
15. “What got you here won’t get you there”
16. Amy’s role at Avera Research Institute: Research & findings, leading a team, day in the life
17. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Jill Stoddard, PhD, is the director of The Center for Stress and Anxiety Management in San Diego. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from Boston University where she trained at the renowned Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders; it was there that her passion for treating anxiety using evidence based methods took root. Dr. Stoddard specializes in the treatment of anxiety and related disorders and has expertise in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She is an award winning teacher, peer-reviewed ACT trainer, author, and co-host of the popular Psychologists Off The Clock podcast. She’s written 2 books based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Big Book of ACT Metaphors: A Practitioner’s Guide to Experiential Exercises and Metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Be Mighty: A Woman’s Guide to Liberation from Anxiety, Worry, and Stress Using Mindfulness and Acceptance. When she’s not writing, counseling her fierce clients, speaking, or podcasting, she’s spending time with her amazing family, friends, and dogs, and feeling grateful for her mighty life. To learn from Dr. Stoddard, visit her website at https://www.jillstoddard.com/ and follow her on Twitter (@jill_stoddard), Instagram (@jillastoddard), and Facebook/LinkedIn.

Topics we cover:

1. Why clinical psychology?
2. How do you know you’re suited for clinical work?
3. What do you wish you knew as an undergrad in psychology?
4. What makes you want to mentor someone? How do I ask for someone’s time? How to I prove I’m worth it? How can I be a good mentee?
5. Why did you do a master’s in clinical psychology before your PhD?
6. What was the most valuable part of your MA program?
7. Jill’s first clinical experience & the goosebumps that proceeded
8. Imposter feelings & getting into grad school - what did it feel like?
9. Imposter “subtypes”
10. How does imposter syndrome still show up for you?
11. What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? Where can people learn more?
12. Why did you go into anxiety?
13. What appealed to you about being a private practitioner and owning a clinic?
14. Financial stability in private practice & being a business owner
15. Salaries throughout Jill’s career
16. What still gives you chills?
17. Jill’s upcoming book on imposter syndrome
18. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Resources mentioned:

• POTC episode with David Smith, about how men can be allies to women in the workplace
• Jill’s Ted talk
• Jill’s website
• The Big Book of ACT Metaphors
• Be Mighty

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities. Follow @psych_mic on Instagram! Music by: Adam Fine

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Tim Davis, PhD, is associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Director of Leadership Coaching for BattenX, the executive training program. A clinical psychologist, Tim helps students, executives and teams achieve more by building resiliency, community and self-awareness. At Batten, he teaches courses on team leadership, group dynamics and emotional resilience.

Davis’s leadership courses at Batten emphasize practical, experiential learning to build self-awareness. His students form teams to experiment with using different approaches to solving problems they experience as team members and leaders. His resilience-focused courses use the transition to and from college as a place for students to learn emotional resilience skills, life management skills, and foundational leadership skills that will help them deal with setbacks and career changes.

Prior to joining Batten, Davis served as the Executive Director for Resilience & Leadership Development at the University of Virginia. He also previously served as the Director of the UVA Center for Counseling & Psychological Services and as Director of Clinical Services at the University of Michigan Counseling & Psychological Services Department.

Education:

• Executive Coaching Certification from Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.
• PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park
• MA in counseling psychology from Arizona State University.
• BA in journalism & history from Indiana University

Topics we cover:

1. The bathtub epiphany moment that led Tim to psychology
2. Why Tim wanted to help people as a therapist
3. Getting rejected from “safeties” but accepted to the #1 counseling psych program
4. Tim’s attitude toward research in grad school
5. Choosing a clinical path after grad school
6. Why Tim got training in more severe psychopathology
7. What Tim learned about college student mental health after working at 4 separate university counseling centers
8. The adolescent brain
9. The crisis of college mental health centers
10. Why Tim stepped away from his clinical positions
11. What piqued Tim’s interest in leadership and resilience?
12. How Tim fosters leadership, resilience, and emotional wellbeing for thousands at UVA through his courses
13. How are leadership and resilience related?
14. Can everyone be a leader?
15. What is Tim’s definition of leadership?
16. How is Tim’s clinical background still serving him?
17. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

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Music by: Adam Fine

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In this episode, I interview Daisy Ort, a 4th-year clinical psychology PhD candidate, and her doctoral advisor, Dr. Barry Farber, about the graduate school application process. We focus mainly on clinical doctoral programs (particularly PhD), but also touch on other routes (e.g., PsyD, MSW, MFT, LMHC). This is Part II of a two-part series. In Part I, we covered preparation: what do you need to do before it actually comes time to apply? In Part II today, we will cover the actual application — the process and its materials.

Our guests:
Daisy is currently a 4th year clinical psychology PhD student at Teachers College, Columbia University. Besides having gone through the process herself, Daisy has helped countless students through every stage of the grad school process.

Dr. Barry Farber has been on doctoral admissions committees at TC for over 40 years. He reviews hundreds of applications every single year and really understands what makes for a successful application. He was also the Director of Clinical Training for 25 years.

To read more about Daisy and Barry, go to their lab website here.

Resources mentioned in last week's and this week's episode:

• Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology
• Psych Mic Grad School Panel
• Magoosh test prep
• Kaplan test prep

Topics we cover (see chapter markers to click time stamps)

• 00:00:00: Intro
• 00:04:52: Some questions covered today
• 00:06:33: How to compile your list of schools
• 00:09:46: How picky can you be?
• 00:12:27: Turning down an offer… to do or not?
• 00:16:27: When will I know if faculty are accepting students?
• 00:17:15: Sending emails to potential advisors
• 00:21:15: Lessening the financial burden of applying
• 00:23:39: How many schools to apply to?
• 00:25:53: CV—Communicating your readiness
• 00:28:27: Personal statements—standing out
• 00:41:17: GRE
• 00:47:30: Letters of Recommendation
• 00:50:51: Embellishing your interest in research?
• 00:54:41: Grades & GPA
• 00:57:34: Assessing program/faculty fit
• 01:01:54: Final words of hope & comfort

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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In this episode, I interview Daisy Ort, a 4th-year clinical psychology PhD candidate, and her doctoral advisor, Dr. Barry Farber, about the graduate school application process. We focus mainly on clinical doctoral programs, but also touch on other routes (e.g., PsyD, MSW, MFT, LMHC). This is Part I of a two-part series. In Part I, we'll be covering preparation: what do you need to do before it actually comes time to apply? In Part II, which is being released next week, we will cover the actual application.

Our guests:
Daisy is currently a 4th year clinical psychology PhD student at Teachers College, Columbia University. Besides having gone through the process herself, Daisy has helped countless students through every stage of the grad school process.

Dr. Barry Farber has been on doctoral admissions committees at TC for over 40 years. He reviews hundreds of applications every single year and really understands what makes for a successful application. He was also the Director of Clinical Training for 25 years.

To read more about Daisy and Barry, go to their lab website here.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology
• Psych Mic Grad School Panel

**Topics we cover (see chapter markers to click time stamps)

Overview**

• 00:08:36: Overview of PhD vs. PsyD vs. MSW vs. MFT
• 00:13:22: Clinical vs. Counseling
• 00:14:58: MSW vs. Doctorate
• 00:16:10: Are school rankings important?
• 00:17:09: Why you should have this book: Insider’s Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology
• 00:19:03: Career outlook differences (MA vs. Doc)

Preparing

• 00:23:24: When to start preparing
• 00:25:33: How much experience is needed before you’re “ready”
• 00:28:41: How to find faculty members in your research areas of interest
• 00:30:00: The important components of your application to prepare for ahead of time
• 00:31:17: GRE (part I)
• 00:34:06: What can I do while still in college to become competitive?
• 00:38:09: Research vs. clinical experience - both equally important?
• 00:39:48: Clinical experience: why, when, and where?
• 00:43:47: What kinds of research experiences are most valuable?
• 00:45:52: Important skills to learn as an RA
• 00:47:37: Are you only competitive if you’ve published?
• 00:49:37: When is a master’s helpful?
• 00:54:03: How do you find clinical experiences without a license?
• 00:57:11: Does type of clinical experience matter?
• 00:58:10: What makes applicants stand out?
• 01:02:42: What parts of Daisy’s application stood out?
• 1:05:43: Steps to find a faculty advisor

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Wendy A. Suzuki, PhD, is a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University.

She received her undergraduate degree in physiology and human anatomy at the University of California, Berkeley in 1987 studying with Prof. Marian C. Diamond, a leader in the field of brain plasticity. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from U.C. San Diego in 1993 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health before accepting her faculty position at New York University in 1998.

Her major research interest continues to be brain plasticity. She is best known for her extensive work studying areas in the brain critical for our ability to form and retain new long-term memories. More recently her work has focused on understanding how aerobic exercise can be used to improve learning, memory and higher cognitive abilities in humans. Wendy is passionate about teaching (see her courses), about exercise (intenSati), and about supporting and mentoring up and coming scientists. See more on Wendy's website.

Wendy's TEDx Talk (#2 most popular talk in 2018)
Wendy's books:

• Healthy Brain, Happy Life
• Good Anxiety

Topics we cover:

1. What was the moment you realized you wanted to become a neuroscientist?
2. What is it like to study something no one has really studied before?
3. What is something you wish somebody told you before you started graduate school?
4. How do you see your work in science as being creative?
5. What was it like to start your own lab? What do you wish you had known?
6. How has your leadership style evolved? (What works better now than what you had been trying)
7. How did you choose your research areas, after grad school?
8. What challenges did you face as you made a research switch (from neurophysiology to exercise)
9. How does meditation make you a better scientist?
10. What made you want to get involved in activities that don’t involve lab research (e.g., public speaking, book writing, entrepreneurship)
11. How did you build up your skill of public speaking? And how has public speaking opened doors for you?
12. Wendy’s business: BrainBody, Inc
13. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Yael Schonbrun, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who wears a number of professional hats: she a small private practice specializing in evidence-based relationship therapy, she’s an assistant professor at Brown University, she is a podcast host, and she writes for nonacademic audiences about working parenthood. She has a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and completed her postgraduate training at Brown University. In all areas of her work, she draws on scientific research, her clinical experience, ancient wisdom (with an emphasis on Taoism), and real life experiences with her three little boys. You can find out more about Yael’s writing, including her forthcoming book on work and family, and about her research by clicking the links, and can follow her on Twitter and on Facebook where she posts about the science and practice of work and family.

• Listen to Yael's podcast, Psychologists off the Clock
• Pre-order Yael's upcoming book, Work, Parent, Thrive
• See Yael's website

Topics we cover:

1. What drew you to clinical psychology?
2. What did you love about research?
3. Impact in research vs. therapy / finding a balance
4. Why are you fascinated by interpersonal relationships?
5. Advice for prospective graduate students
6. Rewards and challenges of graduate school
7. Why is evidence-based practice important to you?
8. When did Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) come into the equation?
9. After your post-doc, how did you decide what the balance between clinical work and research would look like for you?
10. How did becoming a mom shift your professional outlook and commitments?
11. Values-based decision-making and the work-life conflict
12. Yael’s upcoming book: Work, Parent, Thrive
13. Advice for a younger audience about working parenthood
14. How do each of your roles fill you up? Faculty position, writing, podcasting, and therapy
15. An ACT exercise to help you make your next career decision: the eulogy exercise (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - minute 58:55)
16. Yael’s and Maya’s values
17. How is being a clinical psychologist in line with your values?
18. The power of psychological flexibility
19. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Amy Bucher, Ph.D. is Chief Behavioral Officer at Lirio, which unites behavior science with artificial intelligence to drive healthcare behavior change. She is the author of Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change, published by Rosenfeld Media. Before joining Lirio, Amy worked as Vice President of Behavior Change Design at Mad*Pow, a strategy and design consultancy, and on behavior change products in-house at CVS Health and Johnson & Johnson. See her website and blog here.

Amy received her A.B. from Harvard University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She’s a frequent speaker at behavior change and UX conferences where she talks about motivation, engagement, and product design.

Her research interests include motivational design and self-determination theory, social relationships/connections and their effect on well-being and performance, happiness and resilience, and health behaviors such as medication adherence and physical fitness. Her ultimate goal is to apply the learnings of psychology to the realm of health and wellness so that people feel empowered and equipped to live their best lives.

Topics we cover:

1. Amy’s early experiences with research & mentors
2. The decision to go to grad school
3. Knowing what you know now, do you think you’d still have chosen to do PhD?
4. What does it mean to be a behavioral scientist?
5. Do you need a PhD to do this work? What’s the added benefit?
6. Behavioral science, behavioral change design, user experience: what’s the difference?
7. Why Amy didn’t go the faculty/academia route
8. The focus of Amy’s PhD program & the intersection of psychology subfields
9. Amy’s advice for choosing a graduate program
10. Decision-making & uncertainty after grad school
11. What skills did you gain from your PhD program that have helped you in industry?
12. Self-determination theory
13. Does it matter what you do your PhD in to get into behavioral science?
14. Advice on starting in this field and figuring out if a PhD is needed for the work you want to do
15. Amy’s book, Engaged, and its unique contribution to the field
16. What has your work in behavioral science and healthcare looked like since your PhD?
17. What kinds of qualities mesh really well with behavior change design?
18. Being the Chief Behavioral Officer at Lirio
19. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Rose Perry, PhD, is an applied research scientist with a doctorate in neuroscience & physiology from New York University. Her research has examined how social connections can “get under the skin” to buffer individuals from the long term, negative effects of stress and trauma. In April 2020, understanding the unique social challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic was raising, Rose established Social Creatures, with the mission of ensuring that any individual can socially connect with others, no matter their circumstances.

Rose's email: rose@thesocialcreatures.org

Topics we cover:

• Why are you fascinated by psychology and neuroscience?
• How did you figure out that you loved the research part of psychology?
• Why did you like rodent research more than human research as an undergrad?
• Why were you so intrigued by social support & connection?
• How have your personal experiences shaped your research?
• What is community co-design? How does your nonprofit use it?
• Why did you choose to do your PhD in neuroscience in a medical school?
• What was your rat research on in graduate school?
• How has your rodent research informed your human research and applied work?
• What are major differences in skills that are required to do rodent and human research?
• Research is not a monolith
• Advice for prospective and current PhD students: social support, finding a mentor, and gaining skills that match future goals.
• How did pressure to pursue an academic path influence what you did after graduate school?
• Once you decided academia wasn’t for you, how did you decide what to do after?
• How did the idea for Social Creatures come about?
• What does it mean that “social connections can get under the skin”?
• How does Social Creatures reach its goals to facilitate social connections for everyone?
• Want to volunteer with Social Creatures?
• Advice for researchers who want to apply their knowledge in industry

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Erin O'Connor, Ed.D, is the Director of New York University's Early Childhood Education Program and a tenured professor. She holds a Doctorate (Ed.D) in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a Master's in Teaching from Fordham University, and a Master's in School Psychology from Columbia University. Erin teaches human development and education classes to pre- and in-service teachers in New York City schools. She also co-directs a community partnership working with families and caregivers.

In addition, Erin leads a research program examining relationships with mothers and teachers and the impacts of these relationships on children's development in early and middle childhood. She also conducts randomized control trials of relationship-building interventions on the language and social development of pre-kindergarten children from low-income families and neighborhoods.

Erin has published in educational and psychology journals including the American Educational Research Journal, Journal of Educational Psychology, and Journal of Applied Psychology. Her work is supported by grants from several institutions including the Institute for Education Sciences. She is a member of the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and the Society for Research in Child Development.

She is also the founder of Scientific Mommy, which works to make research about child development more accessible.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why did you go the teaching route & get a master's after undergrad?
• What did you learn through being a teacher? And why did you not want to continue teaching?
• Why did you want a school psychology master's?
• Why did you move away from clinical work?
• What went into your decision to get a doctorate? Why an EdD over a PhD? Why in human development?
• The ups and downs of grad school
• Starting a family in grad school
• Pros and cons of an academic career & tenure track
• How to assess your fit with a faculty advisor before grad school
• Issues with the education system & our classrooms: from a psychologist's perspective
• Scientific Mommy
• What it means to be a program director
• How has your research changed how you parent?
• What is your favorite part of your job?
• What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Resources mentioned:

• Alison Gopnik (distinguished developmental psychologist)
• Emily Oster (distinguished economist focusing on parenting & pregnancy)
• Parenting Understood podcast with Erin O'Connor and Michelle Tangeman

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Ami Gandhi, JD, is a Senior Counsel at the Chicago Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights where she works to reduce barriers to voting and improve civic participation, especially in communities of color and low-income communities. Ami’s experience includes leading statewide voter protection for the 2016 and 2020 elections, partnering with community members in the criminal legal system to expand voter access, advocating for communities of color during Illinois redistricting, and advising local election authorities as they implemented the first Hindi ballots in the country. Her experience includes litigating cases in Illinois and Indiana and partnering with communities to write and pass legislation. She previously worked as the Executive Director of South Asian American Policy & Research Institute (SAAPRI), as the Legal Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago, and as a commercial litigation attorney at Freeborn & Peters LLP. She also serves on the Planning Committee for DePaul University’s Institute for Restorative Academic and Civic Engagement, which focuses on currently and formerly incarcerated students, as well as the Executive Advisory Board for the Immigrant and Refugee-Led Capacity Development Network of Illinois.

Ami participates in the Law, Politics, and Civic Engagement Think Tank with incarcerated community members at Stateville Correctional Center. She has also served on the boards of Common Cause Illinois and American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

Ami has received awards from Indiana University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, the South Asian Bar Association of North America, and from Chicago Fair Trade. Ami earned her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and her B.A. in psychology and cognitive science from Indiana University.

Topics we cover:

1. How did Ami decide, as a psych major, that she wanted to apply to law school?
2. Why did she decide against clinical work despite initially considering it?
3. Did being a psych major make it easier or more difficult to apply to law school?
4. What experiences are good to acquire in undergrad that are translatable to law?
5. Can law school be a last-minute decision?
6. Going to law school as a “blank slate”
7. Why working at a law library helped Ami be comfortable being around lawyers in suits
8. How did her psychology background help her in law school?
9. How did Ami decide she wanted to work in public interest & civil rights
10. What does it look like to legally advocate for voter rights?
11. What does a typical week look like for Ami at Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights
12. Ami’s favorite thing about her job?
13. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Alexandra Canetti, MD, is a board-certified child and adolescent and adult psychiatrist with an interest in community psychiatry and family issues. She is affiliated with New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center and currently serves as the Program Medical Director of the Special Needs Clinic, where she treats the mental health needs of individuals and families affected by medical illness, and of the School-Based Mental Health Program.

Dr. Canetti was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Dr. Canetti graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in pre-medicine from the University of Puerto Rico. She completed her medical degree at Universidad Central del Caribe in Puerto Rico, and her residency in adult psychiatry at Cabrini Medical Center. She graduated from her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at St. Vincents Medical Center, where she was the chief fellow.

She joined the training faculty at the Columbia HIV Training Project and AIDS Education Training Center of NY/NJ and has interest in culturally competent family-based care to children and youth with medical illnesses.

Topics we cover:

• Why psychiatry?
• How to find mentors in psychiatry
• What do you wish you knew before med school?
• The process of figuring out her psychiatric specialty
• What does your job at NYP look like? - A typical "patient journey" - start to finish
• Why would a patient get referred to psychiatry over psychology or social work?
• Patient populations and treatment modalities - DBT with bilingual families & cultural sensitivity
• Loans & financial aspects of medical training
• What does training in psychiatry actually look like?
• What would you change about psychiatry if you could?
• Skills that make you an effective psychiatrist
• Why did you not like private practice?
• Why did you decide to focus more on psychopharmacology and med management than on therapy?
• When do you burnout the most? How do you deal with it?
• Being the medical director of two clinics at Columbia NYP
• If people want to learn more about child psychiatry, how should they go about it?
• The difference between working with children and adults
• What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Daniel Tomasulo, PhD, is an American counseling psychologist, writer, and professor and the Academic Director and core faculty at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI), Teachers College, Columbia University. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology, MFA in writing, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and was formerly the Director of the New York City Certification in Positive Psychology for the New York Open Center. He is also a Review Editor for Frontiers in Psychology special section Positive Psychology.

​Sharecare honors Dr. Tomasulo as one of the top ten online influencers on the issue of depression, and was also recently honored by Teachers College, Columbia University with their 2021 Teaching Award.

His clinical specialization is in psychodrama and sociometry, with an academic specialization in intellectual disabilities. Tomasulo developed Interactive Behavioral Therapy (IBT) and later Positive-Interactive Behavioral Therapy (P-IBT), forms of group psychotherapy for people with intellectual disabilities, and coauthored the American Psychological Association’s first book on the subject: Healing Trauma: The Power of Group Treatment for People with Intellectual Disabilities (2005) with Nancy Razza.

Dan's passion is Positive Psychology. While traditional psychology focuses on our weaknesses, positive psychology focuses on our strengths, cultivating our best selves so we can lead meaningful and fulfilling lives.

See Dan's website here: www.dantomasulo.com
See Dan's books here: www.dantomasulo.com/books

Some of Maya's favorite quotes from Dan:

• "Most of my career has been about being disappointed with the establishment."
• "If you look at the statistics, 80% of people with depression relapse. If I'm going into business and I invent the pen that I've got to put on the market, and 80% of them break, I wouldn't be in business very long, you know? So, I think in the last 20 years, you've started to see a shift -- let's study the 20% that are doing well and figure out what they're doing. And that's what positive psychology is."
• "I want to do something that's bi-directional. I want to put out something good that something good happens out there. And that fills me back up and then I can put out more, you know, and if there's always a working through point, but if something isn't filling you up on a very regular basis, it's time for change."
• "Every stage of development is hallmarked by crisis and commitment. At first, the crisis happens, and then you become committed to a way of being. That crisis and commitment end up being the cornerstone of every developmental transition."

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Laura B. Kasper, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and has been practicing psychotherapy for over 18 years. She has experience working with a diverse group of clients with respect to presenting concerns, gender, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity. Regardless of their background, the majority of her clients are highly intelligent and accomplished people who are interested in taking their personal and professional relationships to the next level. Her therapeutic approach blends her first-hand experience of the high-performing professional workplace with buddhist psychology and tools to offer support that is unrelentingly compassionate, direct, and powerful.

In addition to her private practice, she is currently Adjunct Clinical Assistant Faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also a small-group facilitator for Stanford Business School’s renowned emotional and relational intelligence course Interpersonal Dynamics. She has been an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of California San Francisco, and The George Washington University. Prior to becoming a psychologist, she worked as a management consultant at Accenture in the health care industry.

Laura received her Bachelor's from Penn State in Interpersonal Communication and her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Maryland.

We talked about...

• how one goes about figuring out if they’re suited for clinical work and what Laura did to figure it out
• how she chose a counseling program over a clinical one, and a PhD over a PsyD
• how she stood out as an applicant and what kinds of things you can do to stand out yourself
• the process by which you develop your individual style in graduate school
• how to deal with insecurities around doing therapy in front of peers and faculty -- and do these insecurities go away?
• private practice - things Laura wishes she knew before starting one and important things to consider before you make that leap
• how Laura developed this niche of working with founders and high achievers
• and so much more!

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Isha Metzger, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Founder and Director of The EMPOWER Lab, Owner of Cultural Concepts, LLC, a Certified Therapist in Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT), and she is the Mental Health expert for Salone Health, an organization dedicated to improving the health of Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad. The overarching goal of Dr. Metzger’s career is to take a strengths based, anti-deficit approach to prevention for youth of color. Dr. Metzger stands against anti-Black racism and oppression through "Engaging Minorities in Prevention, Outreach, Wellness, Education, & Research" through community-based participatory methods and advocacy.

Dr. Metzger’s research is aimed at preventing engagement in risky behaviors (e.g., sexual activity, alcohol use, delinquency) as well as understanding risk and resilience factors (e.g., trauma experiences, racial socialization and racial discrimination, family and peer relationships) that impact the relation between trauma exposure and problematic outcomes (e.g., STI/HIV exposure, unintended pregnancies). Dr. Metzger is also engaged in translational research including the conceptualization, implementation, dissemination, and evaluation of prevention programming aimed at reducing mental health and health disparities among African American youth.

Dr. Metzger earned her Bachelor’s in psychology from Georgia State University and her PhD in clinical-community psychology from the University of South Carolina. Learn more about her projects at www.drishametzger.com.

Black and EMPOWERED podcast

In this interview, we cover:

• When did you realize you wanted to devote your career to healing black babies?
• How did you figure out you wanted to do therapy and not medicine?
• Why was research a powerful way for you to address racial trauma?
• Dealing with vicarious trauma as a clinician
• Why did you choose to do your PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology
• Becoming a competitive applicant
• Networking before grad school: why it’s important and how to do it
• What do you wish you knew before grad school?
• Is it important to know exactly what you want to research before going to grad school?
• What is your research at the EMPOWER Lab? How do you involve the community?
• What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Susan Rogers, PhD, is a professor of Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music. She holds a doctorate in psychology from McGill University, where she studied music cognition and psychoacoustics under researchers Daniel Levitin and Stephen McAdams. Her research focuses on auditory memory, the perception of musical signals, and the influence of musical training on auditory development. For two decades prior to her science career, Rogers was one of the world's few women known for her work as a record producer, engineer, mixer, and audio electronics technician. Career highlights include years (1983–1988) as staff engineer for recording artist Prince and working with such diverse artists as Barenaked Ladies, David Byrne, Tricky, and Tevin Campbell.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyM5mbNEpWs&ab_channel=PsychMic

In this episode, we cover:

• Intro: who's the second interviewer with Maya??
• Susan’s childhood
• How do kids come to like what they like?
• Working with Prince: tech to engineer
• Important skills for audio engineering
• Comparing art and science
• Why Susan left music to study psychology
• Grad school & mentors
• Susan’s new book: This Is What It Sounds Like
• Why you like the music you like
• Musicians, bilinguals, and auditory processing
• What it takes to produce successful records
• Advice for people interested in music and science
• Figuring out what you really want
• and much more...

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Alec L. Miller, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist, teacher, researcher, author, and disseminator of evidence-based treatments. He is co-Founder and co-Director of Cognitive and Behavioral Consultants, a private group practice and training center based in White Plains and Manhattan. He is also a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Montefiore Medical Center.

Dr. Miller is an expert in the treatment of stress management, adolescent depression, suicide and self-injury, borderline personality disorder, as well as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his doctorate in clinical psychology from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University. Beginning in 1995, he headed clinical-research teams adapting DBT for outpatient suicidal multi-problem adolescents as well as contributing to the adaptation of DBT for other populations and settings including schools. He has authored and co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and co-authored four books, including the three leading textbooks on DBT with adolescents.

To watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/l-6pzl7-qqg

In this episode, we cover:

• How Alec’s interest in mental health emerged from a family tragedy
• How did you know you wanted to practice clinically?
• Gaining clinical experience before grad school
• Choosing the PsyD route and other important considerations about choosing a program - e.g., clinical training vs. research balance)
• Bolstering your grad application
• How to choose the right grad path
• Grad school life
• Theoretical orientation
• What settings did you enjoy working in the most in graduate school?
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Challenging stigma
• Becoming a leader of DBT
• From hospital to private practice
• Advice for people who want to open a private practice
• Internship opportunities at CBC for aspiring clinicians!
• What qualities do you look for in interns at CBC? And opportunities to get involved in Alec’s NEW nonprofit: Access Psychology Foundation
• Dealing with the emotional toll of clinical work & self care
• Why do you do this work, why with teens, and have your reasons changed since you began?
• How did you become a leading expert in the field, such that people call upon you all over the world to come teach, lecture, and speak about your work?
• The future of the field
• What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Chriscelyn Tussey, PsyD, is the founder and President of Metropolitan Forensic and Neuropsychological Consultation, PLLC. She obtained her PsyD in clinical psychology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and completed her predoctoral internship in the Forensic Track at Bellevue Hospital Center/NYU School of Medicine. She completed a one-year postdoctoral fellowship in Forensic Psychology at the UVA Health Center. Given her interest in brain-behavior relationships and the frequent overlap she observed between forensic work and neuropsychology, she subsequently completed a two-year APPCN postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology.

She is also the former Director of Psychological Assessment at Bellevue Hospital and a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Tussey has been qualified as an expert witness in State and Federal courts. She is an invited speaker at local, national, and international conferences and has published on forensic and neuropsychological topics. She has also taught undergraduate and graduate courses, and is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at NYU. Dr. Tussey is passionate about leadership and helping to cultivate future psychologists. She is involved in leadership positions both locally and nationally.

In this interview, we covered:

1. You are both a forensic psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist. What does this mean?
2. What’s the difference between criminal psychology and forensic psychology?
3. What are some examples of cases that you work on, both civil and criminal?
4. When and how did you realize you wanted to be a psychologist?
5. How did you decide that your PsyD program was the right fit for you?
6. Why did you want the opportunity to teach in grad school?
7. Did you look at both PhD and PsyD programs?
8. What do you wish you knew before going into grad school?
9. What is graduate school actually like? Challenges? Rewarding aspects?
10. You did your clinical internship at Bellevue Hospital NYU on the forensic track. What does forensic work look like in a hospital setting?
11. How do you cope with all the trauma that comes with this work?
12. Can you describe a patient you saw in your training that left a mark on you or changed the way you view your practice? (The importance of mentorship)
13. Why did you do two post-docs, one in forensic and one in neuropsychology?
14. What does it mean to be an expert witness?
15. How do you learn everything you need to know about the legal system and the law?
16. How do you remain objective as a forensic psychologist when you’re called upon by attorneys to strengthen their case?
17. How did you advocate for yourself to become the director of psychological assessment at Bellevue Hospital?
18. What is testing and assessment?
19. Why did you transition from the hospital setting to mostly working on your private practice?
20. How do you spend your time as a private practitioner?
21. What’s different about practicing on your own than practicing in a medical setting?
22. Can you take us through a day in your life?
23. What do you like the most about your work? The least?
24. For audience members interested in a path like yours, where should they start?
25. What skill, quality, or general factor has served you no matter where you went in life?

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Daniela Ligiero, PhD, is the Executive Director and CEO of Together for Girls, a global, public-private partnership dedicated to ending violence against children, especially sexual violence against girls. The partnership includes five UN agencies, the governments of the U.S. & Canada, several private sector organizations and more than 20 country governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, working together to generate comprehensive data and solutions to this public health and human rights epidemic. Dr. Ligiero also serves as the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

Before she joined Together for Girls, she served as the VP of Girls and Women’s Strategy at the UN Foundation and developed the foundation’s gender integration strategy. In addition, she spent over 5 years at the U.S. Department of State where she led the integration of gender issues into all foreign policy and investments in global health—working with over 70 countries and over $1 billion in investments. She helped develop the first ever International U.S. Government Strategy to End Gender-Based Violence.

Dr. Ligiero also served in leadership roles at UNICEF, as Chief of HIV and then as Senior Program Officer in UNICEF Brazil. In addition, she has held positions at the World Bank and the US Senate, and has worked directly with survivors of sexual assault in a variety of settings. She is also a survivor of sexual violence herself, and has been speaking publicly about her story for the last decade. She earned her PhD in counseling & community psychology from UMD, College Park, ranked the #1 program in the U.S. Dr. Ligiero is fluent in 4 languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.

See the Keep Kids Safe U.S. National Blueprint to End Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents (launched Nov. 18, 2021).
In this episode:

1. What do you do as the CEO of Together for Girls?
2. What is advocacy, and how is it helping to end sexual violence?
3. If you could implement any policies right now for prevention and healing, what would they be?
4. What barriers do you face as you work to change policy ?
5. How did you learn to harness the power of storytelling to further your organization’s mission?
6. Sexual violence - prevalence
7. How did your interest in psychology evolve?
8. Why did you choose to pursue your PhD in counseling and community psychology?
9. Why did you decide not to pursue clinical work? How does that training still help you today?
10. Clinical vs. counseling psychology
11. Using your psychology degree for policy change
12. As a survivor yourself, how did you cope with counseling survivors of sexual violence in your training?
13. What was it like to work on Capitol Hill?
14. How did you help develop an HIV response program for the U.S. Department of State?
15. Being the HIV lead for UNICEF in Brazil and then the senior gender advisor for the Department of State
16. What does your daily life look like at Together for Girls?
17. What skills are you using every day?
18. Advice for audience members interested in psychology, policy, and social justice
19. What skill, quality, or general factor has served you no matter where you went in life?

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Jared Weintraub, PhD is passionate about helping individuals, teams, and organizations to create, grow, and maintain purpose-driven, positive, and productive cultures. He currently works on the internal People Analytics and Reporting team at Deloitte and is an Adjunct Professor who has taught undergraduate and graduate Psychology courses. Jared has worked with start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, and organizations across various industries, providing internal and external consulting, coaching, and managing marketing and sales teams. He earned his Master’s degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s D.C. campus and recently received his Ph.D. in Applied Organizational Psychology from Hofstra University, where he researched Flow Theory - how, when, and why individuals, teams, and organizations can get into "the Zone." His most recent publication explored how we can use technology-based solutions to "nudge" behavior change to develop critical competencies for flourishing at work.

If you're listening on the episode release date, have a very Happy Thanksgiving :) !!!

See Jared on LinkedIn!
Jared's email: jweintraub89@gmail.com

Topics we covered:

1. Jared’s inspiration from Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the father of “flow”
2. What is flow?
3. The value of a psych major in industry
4. Why did Jared enjoy working in sales & HR?
5. How did he discover IO psychology?
6. How did his master’s in IO help him do his HR job better?
7. What went into Jared’s decision to pursue a PhD in Applied Organizational Psychology?
8. Is flow at work actually important?
9. Do a lot of people achieve flow at work?
10. What are concrete things people can do to start figuring out what gets them into flow?
11. What advice does Jared have for people considering grad school in IO Psychology?
12. What was Jared’s experience with research at his PhD program (and why was it unique?)?
13. Practical grad school and networking tips
14. What does Jared do now?
15. Advice for that person listening who’s nodding along and feeling really aligned with IO psychology - how should they get started after college?

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Regine Galanti, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist specializing in the assessment and treatment of individuals with anxiety and OCD; as well as young children with behavior problems, anxiety, and co-occuring disorders. She specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). She is the founder of Long Island Behavioral Psychology, a therapy practice in Nassau County, Long Island, and author of Anxiety Relief for Teens: Essential CBT Skills and Mindfulness Practices to Overcome Anxiety and Stress. Dr. Galanti received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Hofstra University.

Dr. Galanti works together with parents, schools, and teachers to optimize treatment for a child. She provides concrete, research-proven strategies to help individuals with generalized anxiety, panic disorder, OCD, social anxiety, school refusal, selective mutism, disruptive behaviors, and ADHD. She is a sought after speaker who has been quoted in The Washington Post, Self Magazine, and Buzzfeed, among others.

In this episode, we cover:

1. How did you figure out you wanted to be a child psychologist?
2. How did you decide which graduate programs to apply to, and why was program orientation so important?
3. How should students go about figuring out which theoretical orientations they align with?
4. Choosing between PsyD and PhD: orientation, training, research, and financial considerations
5. Why Regine’s professors told her to go to conferences
6. How did you piece together that you wanted to work with children again after having worked with adults throughout graduate school?
7. Why did you open a private practice?
8. How can we do better at communicating clinical findings to the public?
9. What are important considerations to make when deciding whether you want to work with children or adults?
10. Why Regine thinks it’s easier to work with kids, and why she loves it
11. A day in Regine’s life
12. Favorite and least favorite parts of the job
13. Regine supervises grad students in clinical psychology. In her experience, what kinds of students do really well with CBT therapy?
14. Misconceptions about CBT
15. What do you see a lot of graduate students struggling with?
16. Grad school isn’t about just getting it done
17. Specialist vs generalist practitioners - how do you choose which conditions you want to treat?
18. What do you think people can/should do to maximize their preparedness for graduate school?
19. What skill, quality, or general factor has served you no matter where you went?

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Val DiFebo is the CEO of Deutsch New York. For over 25 years, Val DiFebo has been one of the key architects of Deutsch’s continual success and leadership in the advertising industry. As CEO of Deutsch’s NY office, Val brings a wealth of expertise to the business of advertising and marketing. As a leader that positions herself at the intersection of business strategies and digital techniques, since 1992 Val has continually redefined the Agency’s integrated multidisciplinary offering, allowing for the creation of rapid business solutions that impact a client’s business. Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, IKEA, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Green Giant, PNC Bank, Sherwin-Williams, and The Michael J. Fox Foundation are a few of the blue-chip clients she’s touched thus far. Along with the Agency’s success, The Today Show, CNN, and other media outlets have all sought out her point of view, and she has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Fortune.

A trusted industry thought leader, Val is anything but shy when it comes to advocating for equality in the workplace. Her philanthropic involvement includes supporting early career playwrights and creative storytellers through her position on the Board of The Playwrights Realm, as well as Chairman of the Hearts of Gold Foundation, which assists at-risk mothers. Additionally, she is a board member of The ANA Educational Foundation (AEF), as well as her alma mater, Williams College, where she studied — you guessed it — psychology!

In this episode, we covered:

1. What is advertising, and how is it different from marketing?
2. What does Deutsch help their clients with?
3. How did your interest in psychology develop into an interest in advertising?
4. What advice do you have for psych majors who are multi-passionate but are unsure how to take there next steps?
5. Was it difficult to market your psych background in industry?
6. Is it easier now for psych majors to enter the marketing/advertising industry?
7. What do you look for in a candidate?
8. How did you become CEO of Deutsch NY?
9. What makes for good leaders and mentors?
10. Are mentors people you actively seek out or do they just come about?
11. What does your day look like?
12. What do you love most about your job?
13. What do you love about advertising specifically?
14. How do you see advertising changing over the next couple decades?
15. What skills are important to be successful in advertising?
16. For psych majors who are interested in advertising, where can they look for positions they’d be qualified for?
17. The power of yes
18. Graduate school - necessary?
19. Hope for psych students

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Nicole Vienna, PsyD, is a licensed psychologist specializing in forensic and neuropsychological evaluations. She completed her PsyD in Clinical Forensic Psychology at Alliant International University - California School of Forensic Studies and her bachelor's at the University of Arizona.

She is currently the CEO and clinical director of her private practice, Vienna Psychological Group, which collaborates with clients across multiple facets of forensic evaluation services. they provide detailed assessments used in legal proceedings and case development for both criminal and civil issues affecting adults and juveniles. They also conduct screenings for employment in public safety to determine if a candidate is a suitable fit for the psychological demands of the position. In addition, they work closely with families and educators to evaluate learning disorders, behavior problems, intelligence and achievement, and other issues impacting academic performance.

Read more about Nicole's practice and training here.
Book referenced: Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology by John Norcross and Michael Sayette

In this episode, we cover:

1. What is forensic psychology?
2. Do forensic psychologists always serve the court?
3. What do you need to do to be called a “forensic psychologist”?
4. How did Nicole land her internship if her PsyD was not APA accredited?
5. Roadblocks in Nicole’s training
6. Why would you get a master’s in forensic psychology if it doesn’t lead to licensure?
7. Why did you choose a PsyD over a PhD?
8. Why did you major in sociology and criminal justice in undergrad instead of psychology?
9. What was the biggest challenge you faced in graduate school?
10. Tips on balance and time management in grad school
11. Doctoral students are typically high-achievers. How do you advise them to embrace failure?
12. Was it annoying to go through clinical experiences in grad school knowing you didn’t want to work in clinical settings?
13. Why do forensic psychologists need to be clinical psychologists?
14. What was it like to work at an inpatient psychiatric hospital during grad school?
15. What was it like to work at a jail?
16. What are important things to consider before working at a jail? A lot of people are drawn to it, but are scared.
17. What does your day to day look like? What do evaluations look like?
18. Do you work equally with the prosecution and the defense?
19. What kinds of cases stick with you the most?
20. What do you wish you knew before entering this field?
21. Are there any practices in the criminal justice system you wish we would get rid of?
22. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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For more than thirty years, psychotherapist Gerald Drose, PhD, has been helping his clients re-write their personal narratives, recognizing that the stories we tell ourselves limit our ability to love and thrive.

Gerald works with individuals and couples, helping them with relationship problems; has published research on sex therapy; wrote a bi-weekly column on sex, love, and marriage; and has extensive couples’ therapy experience. He also enjoys supervising younger therapists, filling in the gaps left after graduate school training, and firmly believes in the artistry needed to deeply understand the people who come for help. His graduate school experience inspired his first novel, Bird Gotta Land (Amazon).

Bird Gotta Land (book website) is a fictional memoir about a young grad student in clinical psychology. He learns that "in order to heal others, he must first face his deepest wounds." This book is a rare look behind the curtain of graduate school and is a must-read for aspiring therapists (or simply those who are intrigued by the experiences of therapists as they learn to explore the human condition).

Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, Gerald received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of South Carolina. He lives with his wife Dina in Atlanta, Georgia, where the couple leads a psychotherapy practice with four locations. He has three grown sons and a granddaughter.

In this episode, we cover:

1. How and when did you know you wanted to be a psychologist?
2. Is being a therapist a calling, or is it something you can weigh out?
3. What compelled you to get trained in sex therapy?
4. What do you work on with couples?
5. How much self-confidence does one need to have before beginning clinical training?
6. Were you always a natural at therapy? What is the role of intuition in therapy?
7. What happens if you don’t like your client, or if your client triggers your own wounds?
8. How had your learning to be a therapist impact your personal relationships?
9. What did you learn about people - our tendencies, our mental health, our relationships - that surprised you in grad school?
10. Why are you drawn to narrative therapy?
11. How do you know when a client is ready to go to uncomfortable places?
12. Can you get licensed in different states?
13. What is the most fulfilling part about being a therapist?
14. What have you learned about young therapists by supervising so many of them?
15. What advice do you have for the next generation of psychologists?
16. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

… and so much more!

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Music by: Adam Fine

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Marty Maidenberg, LMHC, NCC, currently works at a private practice called Pathways Psychological Services in NYC. He received his M.A. in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness at NYU. Before he became a therapist, Marty spent over 25 years in the music industry, where he spearheaded marketing divisions at major record companies, founded and operated independent record labels, and worked as a talent manager for artists at multiple stages of their careers, including well-known names:

• Andy Grammer
• Joss Stone
• Sting
• Carrie Underwood
• ...and even Elton John!

In this episode, we discuss many FAQs from psychology students about pursuing a path in therapy. Here are a list of topics:

1. Marty's beginnings in advertising
2. Why were you drawn to HR when starting in the music industry?
3. How did you go from almost being hired for an assistant role, to an HR role, to becoming a top marketing executive at PolyGram Records?
4. Building an entertainment marketing company (M Squared Entertainment)
5. Working with talent like Andy Grammer, Sting, Carrie Underwood, Joss Stone, and Elton John
6. What made you such an effective music marketing executive?
7. What was it like to work with Elton John?
8. Tips for standing out in the music industry?
9. Why did you leave the music industry?
10. Why did you want to become a mental health counselor?
11. The need for mental health awareness in the music industry
12. How do your previous roles in the music industry help you in your role as a counselor?
13. Was it difficult to make sense of making a career change later in life?
14. Internal battles and revelations during training to become a therapist
15. How did you develop your therapeutic style in graduate school, and how has it evolved over time?
16. What is grad school in mental health counseling actually like?
17. What is it like to be a therapist?
18. Steps to private practice and the difficulty of licensing exams
19. Financial concerns
20. What advice do you have for listeners who are considering becoming therapists but aren’t totally sure? What questions should they ask themselves to assess if this is the right path?
21. How do you switch gears from client to client?
22. Flexibility in private practice
23. What skill, quality, or general factor has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

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Melissa Steach, PhD (I/O Psychology), is the Workplace Wellbeing Knowledge Lead at Herman Miller, a furniture company focused on inventive designs that improve the human experience. In her role, Dr. Melissa Steach helps organizations implement Herman Miller’s workplace wellbeing research and meet their ergonomic and wellbeing needs by focusing on their greatest asset: people. Melissa is a bestselling author and award winning fine artist with accreditations in positive psychology interventions as well as ergonomic assessment (CEAS I). She holds a Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology wherein her research focused on human factors and implicit cognition.

"Growing up in housing projects that were gentrified sparked my initial interest in the relationship between personal and communal identity. Having those same housing projects located blocks away from the city’s library, museum, and major historical sites - along with my mom’s artistic and décor flair that made our little apartment look like a magazine spread - exposed me to the fact that art, in all of its forms, can impact us profoundly. I didn’t know it then, but my subsequent search for self through living in many places, amongst many types of people and cultures, along with trying on a variety of different careers, are what led me to attain a Ph.D. in I-O psychology." - www.drsteach.com

Melissa is also writing her 2nd book called The Intangible Environment, all about the unseen elements of workplace wellbeing. Look out for that in 2022!

In this episode, I ask Melissa:

1. What do you do as the workplace wellbeing knowledge lead at Herman Miller furniture company?
2. In what ways do you incorporate ergonomics and human factors into your role?
3. Why should we care about ergonomics?
4. To what extent does research play a role in your work?
5. What does your day to day look like at Herman Miller?
6. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of your job?
7. What’s the difference between I/O Psych and HR?
8. Why did you fall in love with art?
9. Melissa’s path from studio art, to acting, to teaching, to furniture staging, to ergonomics to I/O: How did studio art turn into a passion for ergonomics?
10. What was the common thread among all the jobs you’ve had?
11. You were able to get all this experience without a graduate degree in I/O Psychology. Why did you get a master’s and a PhD anyway?
12. How did growing up in housing projects influence your love for psychology and design?
13. How did you balance a full time job while going to grad school?
14. What advice do you have regarding finding grad schools that support your other commitments: financial, personal, and otherwise?
15. What advice would you give to psychology students who don’t have a graduate degree but want to get experience in business and design?
16. What grad programs to look out for if you’re interested in I/O psych and the power of the built environment (e.g., environmental psychology)
17. When should you get a master’s? And when should you get a PhD?
18. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

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David Pizarro, PhD, is a social psychologist and Cornell professor (and director of graduate studies). His primary research interests are in moral judgment. He is particularly interested in moral intuitions (especially concerning moral responsibility, and the permissibility or impermissibility of certain acts), and in biases that affect moral judgment. He also has a general interest in the influence of emotional states (e.g., disgust, anger, fear) on thinking and deciding.

• See his publications and his website here.
• See his popular Ted Talk about disgust and political orientation here.
• See his really awesome podcast, Very Bad Wizards, here.

This episode covers a lot of ground. Here's the list of topics:

1. How David got interested in researching moral judgment and disgust
2. Would David eat chocolate shaped like dog poop?
3. Why is disgust a dumb emotion?
4. Why is disgust sensitivity associated with political conservativism?
5. Why is morality and disgust important to understand?
6. To be a fair researcher of morality, do you have to attempt to put aside your own moral convictions?
7. Why psychology?
8. How did David get into graduate school?
9. Knowing what he knows now, would David have gone straight through from undergrad to grad school?
10. What do prestigious graduate programs look for in an applicant?
11. How do you demonstrate positive qualities in a grad school application?
12. Strategies to get research experiences (even when you don’t have prior research experience)
13. Mentors and the freedom to explore in grad school
14. Biggest challenges in graduate school: imposter syndrome, dealing with rejection, being productive
15. Why do a post-doc?
16. The competitiveness of tenure track - are you doomed if you don’t end up there?
17. Start with curiosities, not with disciplinary labels!
18. Do most psych undergrads go to grad school without knowing what they want to do with their degree?
19. The value of a PhD
20. Intellectual humility in academia
21. What skills are needed to become a successful researcher?
22. Do academics just shout into a void?
23. Why did Cornell hire David?
24. David’s podcast, Very Bad Wizards
25. Advice for confused, passionate psych majors
26. Why does David love what he does?
27. Why academics shouldn’t overlook teaching
28. We should express more gratitude!

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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox!

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Elizabeth Wierba, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with an independent private practice in Ann Arbor, MI, and a lecturer in Psychology at The University of Michigan for 18+ years. Liz completed a doctorate in Organizational Psychology and a postdoctoral fellowship from the School of Information, both at The University of Michigan. Her career as a psychotherapist began with a postdoctoral Respecialization in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University. She has worked in a diverse array of therapeutic, educational and business settings, and volunteered with several non-profit organizations.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Liz realizing she didn't want to be a doctor
• What she wish she knew before grad school
• Bad mentorship experiences & changing advisors in grad school
• How to find the right advisors
• Why organizational psychology?
• Realizing organizational psychology was not her passion
• How teaching helped Liz decide she wanted to be a therapist
• Making career pivots later in life
• Why failure was a gift
• Asking others what you're good at
• Respecializing in clinical psychology
• Finding her talent & passion
• Why she loves being a therapist
• The flexibility of private practice
• What type of person would be good at therapy? How do you figure out if you're not?
• What skill, quality, or general factor has served Liz 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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox!

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Claire Ciliotta, PhD, has been a practicing psychotherapist since she was 37, and she is now 75. Prior to that, she worked in a bank (very, very briefly!), worked for Pan American Airlines, Louise Wise Teen-age Unwed Mother residence, Sheltering Arms Children’s Service Group Homes, and ran a Child Life Program at Bellevue Hospital Inpatient Pediatrics. "All of which," she says, "made me a much more effective therapist."

She holds an MA in Learning Disabilities and Reading, and she later pursued a Ph.D in Applied Psychology from NYU.

In this live event from December 2020, we talked about:

• what it means to be a witness
• what Claire learned about life and human nature through working with children facing their mortality
• why Claire listens to what is not being said in the therapy room as much as what is
• how to not carry things home with you
• the role of intuition in the therapy room
• 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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox!

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Heidi K. Gardner, PhD, is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession. Previously she was a professor of Organizational Behavior at Harvard Business School. Dr. Gardner’s book “Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos” was published in 2017 by Harvard Business Press, and became a Washington Post bestseller. Named by Thinkers 50 as a Next Generation Business Guru, Dr. Gardner co-founded the research and advisory firm Gardner & Co, which helps clients across professional services, industry, government, and non-profits to drive change through smarter collaboration.

Dr. Gardner has lived and worked on four continents, including as a Fulbright Fellow, and for McKinsey & Co. and Procter & Gamble. She earned her BA in Japanese from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters degree from the London School of Economics in Industrial Relations, and a PhD from London Business School in Organizational Behavior.

Topics we cover:

• Growing up in Amish Country - Lancaster, PA
• Why Japanese language, culture, and history fascinated Heidi
• How Heidi went from being a Japanese major to a manager at Procter & Gamble
• What it means to be a leader & getting your team to shine
• Heidi’s Fulbright scholarship in post-communist Germany
• “As long as you are dealing with human beings, the value of psychology will always shine through”
• Why Heidi loves going to grocery stores in new countries
• What is Industrial Relations? - Heidi’s Master’s program
• Organizational behavior - the human component of business
• Working at McKinsey - culture, people, & work
• Wanting a job you think about in the shower
• What does a PhD in Organizational Behavior give you?
• What is smart collaboration?
• How does Heidi apply smart collaboration today?

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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox!

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Mark S. Blumberg, PhD, is a professor, neuroscientist, researcher, and author who specializes in the fields of developmental psychobiology and behavioral neuroscience. He is currently the department chair in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Iowa. In addition to writing academic research articles, Blumberg has served as the editor-in-chief of Behavioral Neuroscience and authored several books, including Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution. His research also appeared on a 2020 episode of the Netflix series, Babies. Research in the Blumberg lab at U-Iowa focuses on sleep: its development, neural control, and functional significance. Read more about Mark's research here.

Topics in this episode:

• Mark’s research on: Why do we sleep so much when we’re young?
• Researching niche/obscure constructs and why that’s important to Mark
• The uncertainty of science
• Planning for the future versus following present interests and passions
• Non-permanence of seemingly permanent decisions, like pursuing a PhD
• How Mark got to love what he does
• Horrible mentor experiences
• How to properly read a CV to assess mentor fit
• Finding funding for obscure research interests
• Pros and cons to an academic career
• Hard and soft salary academic positions
• Being a psychology department chair
• Developing a mentorship philosophy
• What Mark looks for in a student on his lab
• What makes Mark a successful leader
• What skill does Mark want his undergrads to leave college with?
• Advice for college students on getting research experience
• Getting into grad school

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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

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Kevin Scully, M.A., ED.S., is the development director for Students Without Limits, a 501c3 nonprofit based in San Diego that supports underserved and immigrant youth through mental health, legal, and continuing education services. Kevin has an M.A. in school psychology and an education specialist degree (ED.S.) and has worked with underserved and minority immigrant youth within San Diego schools for nearly 20 years as a bilingual school psychologist, teacher and education consultant. Given his experience and reputation within the school communities, Kevin serves as an esteemed liaison between SWOL and schools. Kevin uses his knowledge and experience to develop our popular Sensitivity Training Program for educators and Parent Programs. He also uses his expertise to connect students to key resources and provide quality intervention strategies and services to marginalized and struggling youth.

Here are major questions we cover:

1. What is Students Without Limits?
2. How do nonprofits get funding?
3. What piece of advice do you have for people who are interested in starting a nonprofit but aren’t sure where to begin?
4. Why do you love working with kids?
5. What clinical experience did you get with a bachelor’s in psychology? How was your experience working with at-risk kids?
6. Why did you choose school psychology over clinical psychology?
7. Considerations for people weighing school and clinical psychology
8. What is the difference between school psychology and school counseling programs?
9. Why were you drawn to school psychology over school counseling?
10. Why did you decide not to pursue your doctorate (yet)?
11. Loan forgiveness opportunities
12. What is an education specialist degree?
13. What was the most valuable part of your master’s?
14. Why did you choose to travel right after graduate school, and what perspectives did you gain from doing so?
15. Why did you transition from working in public schools to the nonprofit space?
16. Favorite and least favorite parts about being a school psychologist
17. How do you welcome criticism?
18. 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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

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Sara Douglas, Psy.D., NCSP, is a neuropsychological evaluator and nationally certified school psychologist. Sara received her master's degree in school psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and then obtained her Psy.D in school psychology from St. John's University. Sara has worked across a variety of settings including schools (both public and private), treatment clinics, and hospitals. At her current private practice, Sara conducts neuropsychological evaluations with school-aged children, adolescents, and adults who have unexplained academic, behavioral, or emotional difficulties. In the past, she’s worked as a school psychologist providing counseling to students, as an Associate Adjunct Professor within the School Psychology graduate program at St. John's University, and as an Adjunct Professor within Manhattanville College's Graduate School of Education.

In this episode, we cover:

1. What neuropsychological tests do you conduct, and what do they tell you?
2. What does a testing session look like?
3. What makes you good at this, and is that quality intuitive or learned?
4. How do you communicate difficult test results to parents?
5. How did you learn to be confident in synthesizing so much information?
6. What advice would you give someone who is interested in becoming a neuropsychological evaluator but is not sure?
7. Why did you want to become a lawyer, and why did you change your mind?
8. Did you think psychology would be useful in your future work as a lawyer?
9. How did you experiment and figure out that psychology was more of the right thing for you?
10. Why didn’t you want to be a child therapist?
11. Why did you decide to get your master’s in school psychology?
12. When did you realize testing was the path for you?
13. Why did you pursue a doctorate?
14. What was the most beneficial part of grad school?
15. What do you learn in a school psych grad program?
16. Can all school psychologists call themselves neuropsychologists?
17. Why did you open a private practice while also being a school psychologist?
18. What did you enjoy the most about being a school psychologist?
19. Was there anything you witnessed being kind of immersed in the education field that irked you and that you wish you could change?
20. Do you think on the whole, we rely on teachers to take on more of that psychologist role when they shouldn’t?
21. Was there something students came to you all the time about?
22. 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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

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Shelby Cooley, PhD, is a senior research scientist for the Seattle Public Schools, where she works to better understand student needs and experiences pertaining to racial identity, school climate, academic engagement and more. In the past, she has worked as the research director at a Seattle-based nonprofit called Community Center for Education Results, focused on improving student achievement and educational equity. Shelby received her B.A. from Scripps College in psychology and Black studies, and her PhD from the University of Maryland in Developmental Science where she examined the emergence of anti-Black racism in childhood, how environments shape children's perceptions of fairness and justice, racial identity, and contexts that enable all youth to challenge negative group norms. Her prior professional work focused on early learning access and quality instruction at New York University's INSIGHTS to Children's Temperament Lab, and at Child Trends in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit research center focused on children, families, and wellbeing.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. What do you do as a senior research scientist for the Seattle Public Schools?
2. How does this research get used to improve the learning experiences of students?
3. Where does policy come into play, and are you involved in this step?
4. What are your primary research interests as they pertain to education?
5. When trying to make the education system more equitable, is the agent of change bottom up or top down?
6. What role does research play in systems change?
7. What types of conversations move us closer to antiracism in education, and what conversations have become unproductive?
8. Why did you major in psychology?
9. Why was a PhD a logical step for you?
10. How did your mentors shape you?
11. Why were you interested in identity development, particularly in people of color?
12. Can you describe any experience in grad school that helped you solidified what you wanted to do with your research?
13. Why did you not want to be a professor?
14. Her roles at nonprofit organizations
15. Where does change happen?
16. Is it becoming more common for folks with psych backgrounds to enter the education space?
17. What advice do you have for the Psych Mic audience?

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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

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Maxine Nwigwe, Psy.D. is a behavioral scientist, designer and futurist. She has held multiple roles across educational, corporate and nonprofit settings and has 10+ years experience in designing and developing solutions in learning, mental wellness/psychological wellbeing and workforce development. Dr. Nwigwe is also the founder of the instructional studio, Work. Love. Play, LLC. In this space, she advises startups/founding teams and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises on the integration of culturally informed and environmentally sound behavioral insights to promote organizational development and transformation. She holds a Doctorate in Psychology (specializing in Assessment and Adult Development) from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology & Society (specializing in human behavioral ecology) from Cornell University.

In this episode, we cover:

1. What is behavioral science?
2. How do you use design and behavioral science in your work?
3. What makes you a good behavioral scientist?
4. Why did you major in biology and society?
5. Why did you decide not to continue as a pre-med student?
6. Why did psychology open the door for you to be a healer?
7. Can you recall an experience that solidified for you that you wanted to go into this field?
8. How do you pay attention to your interests?
9. Why did you choose a PsyD over a PhD?
10. What do you look for in great mentors?
11. How do you assess if your mentor aligns with your values?
12. What did you learn about yourself in graduate school?
13. How and why did you pivot into the community engagement and design space?
14. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has helped you no matter where you went?
15. What does the future hold for the field of psychology?

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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

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Juliette Lyons-Thomas, PhD, works on a large-scale assessment program at Educational Testing Service (ETS), which is the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization. Her research interests include the use of think aloud protocols for validation of assessments of complex thinking, policy-related issues in education, and issues related to cross-cultural and cross-lingual assessment. She received her B.Sc (Psychology) from McGill University, her M.A. (Educational Psychology, specializing in Psychological Measurement and Evaluation) from NYU, her Ph.D. from the Measurement, Evaluation, and Research Methodology program at the University of British Columbia. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Teachers College, Columbia University and has previously worked at the Regents Research Fund and the New York State Education Department.

In this episode, we cover Juliette's decision to major in psychology, her early academic struggles and how they shaped her, educational psychology, what measurement is and why it's important, how measurement applies to education policy, graduate school application tips, reaching out to professors, the future of and problems with standardized tests, how to make tests more equitable, 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, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

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Mitch Prinstein, Ph.D. is the Chief Science Officer of the American Psychological Association. He is a husband, a father, board certified in clinical child and adolescent psychology, and serves as the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and the former Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mitch’s Peer Relations Lab has been conducting research on popularity and peer relations for almost 20 years, and has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child and Human Development, and several private foundations, resulting in over 100 scientific works, including a slew of scientific journal articles, book chapters, a set of encyclopedias on adolescent development, and even a textbook on the field of clinical psychology.

Mitch is deeply committed to science and training in clinical psychology. He is the author of a guide called "Mitch's Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology," which has helped thousands of students navigate the grad school process - please check it out if you are considering this path! His popular book, Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World, explores why popularity plays such a key role in our development and how it still influences our happiness and success into adulthood. It has been reviewed by esteemed peers such as Adam Grant, Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth, and Phil Zimbardo.

He and his research have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, U.S. News & World Report, Time magazine, New York magazine, Newsweek, Reuters, Family Circle, Real Simple, and elsewhere.

Sample questions/topics from this episode:

1. Why did you apply to both law school and psych grad school?
2. Why clinical psychology?
3. Why do sub-disciplines of psychology have a hard time talking to one another?
4. How did you become interested in researching peer relations?
5. How do you advise students to find their own great mentors?
6. Why do you love teaching and research?
7. How do you choose when you are excited by so many opportunities?
8. How did you develop the writing skills to be able to communicate your research with a mass audience?
9. Why did you write the book, Popular?
10. How can we be better as a field in disseminating psychological science, and what are the barriers to that?
11. What is your role as the CSO of the APA?
12. If you could tell your 22-year-old-self anything in the world, what would it be?

GRAD SCHOOL:

1. What are some common concerns that you see that psychology students have as it relates to professional development?
2. How do you demonstrate potential in your graduate school application?
3. What red flags do you see in graduate school applications?
4. How much does school reputation matter for future career success?
5. What advice do you have for people who want to go to clinical PhD programs but are not interested in research?
6. What type of person would you advise not to go down a tenure track?

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.

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Anton Robert Berzins, Psy.D., N.C.S.P., is a school psychologist and Co-Founder and Director for the Ecuador Professional Preparation Program, a cultural immersion program for education and mental health professionals. He obtained his psychology and history (double major) undergraduate degree from Loyola College in Maryland, masters degree from Teachers College, Columbia University and doctoral degree (bilingual track) from St. John's University.

He is a full time, tenured school psychologist within the Great Neck Public School system in Great Neck, New York. In this role, he serves as the Case Manager to the Academic Career Exploration (A.C.E.) and Transition programs which are comprised of students with significant physical, and developmental disabilities. Additionally, he serves as the Case Manager to the English as a Second Language (E.S.L.) program, which is comprised of students from the Middle East, South America, Central America, Europe, and Asia.

For over the past decade, Dr. Berzins has spent his summer's working with a variety of schools, hospitals, clinics, community outreach centers, and orphanages in both Costa Rica and Ecuador. Furthermore, he has presented at district-level and national conferences. He has had articles, book reviews, and book chapters published in national psychology journals. His research interests include: school-sports psychology; resiliency; affect (positive and negative); exposure to violence (physical, verbal, sexual); post traumatic stress disorder; gratitude; positive psychology; and multicultural issues in psychology.

In this episode, we cover Anton's dreams of becoming a pro soccer player, his newspaper delivery service when he was 7 years old, the reasoning behind all his grad school decisions, how boldness, gratitude, and resourcefulness helps him throughout his career, why school psychology, what he does on a daily basis, how and why he founded the Ecuador PPP, advice for aspiring school psychologists, 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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Garth Neufeld, LMFT, teaches an array of psychology courses at Cascadia College where he has been a professor since 2016. Garth is the founder of Teaching Introductory Psychology Northwest and the co-founder of the PsychSessions: Conversations About Teaching N’ Stuff podcast. Garth is the Director of Regional Conference Programming for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and the co-chair of APA’s Introductory Psychology Initiative. He has served the national teaching of psychology community through the AP psychology exam reading, APA’s Summit on the National Assessment of Psychology, and APA’s Summit on High School Psychology Education. In 2018 Garth was awarded a presidential citation from the American Psychological Association (APA) as a Citizen Psychologist for his co-founding and ongoing participation as president of Shared Space For All, a non-profit organization that educates and mentors at-risk Thai children toward the prevention of prostitution. Garth is also the recipient of the 2019 STP Wayne Weiten Teaching Excellence Award.

In this episode, we talk about Garth's own lack of direction after his BA in psychology from Saskatchewan University in Canada, why he got a Master's in Marriage & Family Therapy but chose to become a professor instead, his experience as a professor at a community college, finding friends and mentors who have an "inner gold," advice for psych students to harness their skills and knowledge, how to get your feet wet in teaching, advice for preventing burnout among teachers, and so much more!

Listen to Garth's PsychSession's podcast!
Check out Garth's nonprofit, Shared Space For All!

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!

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Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, PhD, NNP, FAAN, a neonatal nurse practitioner and researcher, has worked throughout her career to advance nursing research, education and practice, with a focus on neonatology, infant health and developmental pediatrics. Her research has led to the creation of programs that improve health and developmental outcomes for at-risk and preterm infants.

As an associate professor of nursing and the director of infant research at George Washington University’s Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute, Dr. Darcy-Mahoney advances the body of research in infant health and developmental outcomes in high-risk infants with a focus on understanding the early brain and development trajectories in this population. In addition to her work with the institute, she conducts interdisciplinary research through “Talk With Me Baby” a multi-agency initiative using the nursing workforce to educate parents in the importance of talking and engaging with their babies in early infancy.

Dr. Darcy-Mahoney is a Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Nurse Faculty Scholar and with her most recent grant from the RWJ Foundation, she is pursuing outcomes research in preterm infants by comparing developmental trajectories of children raised in a bilingual environment against those raised in a monolingual environment. She was named among the Top 25 Pediatric Nursing Professors by nursepractitionerschools.com and has earned numerous awards.

In this episode, we cover:

• Ashley's beginnings in nursing and in pre-med
• Why she ultimately chose nursing with neonates as a specialty
• What can you do as a nurse? Where do nurses work?
• How can I figure out if nursing is the right path for me?
• If it is the right path for me, how do I begin if I didn't study nursing in college?
• The economic and career benefits of a Master's (NNP) and PhD in Nursing - we talk salaries (here is the data Ashley talked about during the episode: https://www.aanp.org/news-feed/2017-national-nurse-practitioner-sample-survey-results)
• Cross disciplinary work as a nurse
• Med school vs. nursing
• The association between preterm birth and cognitive/health risks
• Programs that have been developed to improve infant outcomes
• How a psych lens helps when working with families
• The most rewarding and most difficult parts of her job
• Self-care as a clinician

... and some more.

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!

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Stacie M. Spencer, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of the BS in Health Psychology program at MCPHS University (formerly the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; Boston, MA). She received her BA from Allegheny College and her MA and PhD from Northeastern University in Experimental Social and Personality Psychology. She later did her Post-Doc at the University of Miami in Behavioral Medicine. A recipient of the MCPHS Trustees’ Award for Teaching Excellence, Dr. Spencer has developed a comprehensive series of career exploration and professional development seminars and conducts research on team-based learning and interprofessional education. You can contact her at stacie.spencer@mcphs.edu.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Stacie's difficulties in undergrad
• The quality that served Stacie no matter where she went
• What is behavioral medicine?
• How are social and personality psychologies related to health?
• Stacie's research on defensive pessimism and strategic optimism and on coping
• Why her gravestone will say: "Yes, you can get a job with a bachelor's in psychology"
• Why she became a college professor
• What can you do with a bachelor's in psychology?
• Job searching and graduate school application advice

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!

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Daniel Lerner, MAPP, is an expert in positive and performance psychologies. His key theme is that developing a healthy psychological state has a profound impact on the pursuit of excellence—a message that he brings to students, established and high-potential performing artists and athletes, and executives at Fortune 500 companies and startups worldwide. Dan is a faculty member at NYU, is on the teaching staff in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania, and guest lectures regularly at universities across the country. He co-teaches “The Science of Happiness,” currently the largest and most popular non-required offering at New York University, in great part due to the positive changes that students report throughout the semester. Following a decade at International Creative Management (where he specialized in the representation and development of young performers) and at 21C Media Group (where he was a co-founder and the director of artist development), Lerner studied closely with renowned sports psychologist Dr. Nathaniel Zinsser—a Director of The Center for Enhanced Performance at the United States Military Academy at West Point—focusing on coaching and performance enhancement techniques employed by professional and Olympic athletes. He holds a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and his book U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life), was released in Spring 2017 by Little, Brown, and Company.

In this episode from one of Psych Mic's live events, we cover how Dan's beginnings in music budded into a passion for helping others achieve their potential, how his mentors shaped him and how to find great mentors, the infinite ways to apply positive psychology, how he landed a faculty position without a PhD, his struggle with perfectionism, achieving wellbeing, and so much more.

To submit questions for future speakers, visit @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.

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Chris Branson, Ph.D is a licensed psychologist and nationally-recognized expert in trauma-informed practice for the juvenile justice system. Since 2012, he has provided consultation on trauma-informed practice to state and county juvenile justice systems in nine states. Dr. Branson has personally trained over 1,000 professionals in probation, detention/corrections, court, and diversion program settings. He also consults for several national organizations, including the US Department of Justice.

Dr. Branson has 14 years of juvenile justice experience as a therapist, researcher, and consultant. He began his career at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in Harlem, where he provided mental health evaluations and evidence-based treatment to youth and families involved with the juvenile justice system. Alarmed by the high rates of trauma reported by his clients, Dr. Branson shifted his focus to increasing access to effective treatment for youth with traumatic stress. He served as Co-Principal Investigator for a 4-year federally-funded project to implement trauma-informed care in the NYC Department of Probation, Rikers Island, two diversion programs, and a drug treatment court.

In 2014, he joined the faculty of the New York University School of Medicine, where he led the first-ever NIMH-funded study of trauma-informed care in the juvenile justice system. He served as Co-Investigator on a subsequent SAMHSA-funded project to spread trauma-informed care through all of NYC's juvenile detention facilities.

In 2019, Dr. Branson left academia and launched C. Branson Consulting in order to focus on working directly with county and state juvenile justice agencies on implementing trauma-informed practices. His other areas of expertise include work-related traumatic stress in juvenile justice professionals, implementation science, program evaluation, and adolescent substance abuse.

In this episode, we cover why he decided to work with adolescents, why he talks about psychological concepts without using "damn jargon," why he aims to learn as much as he teaches, and so much more. Throughout, he gives "advice they don't tell you" about grad school, mastering public speaking, and finding mentors.

To submit questions for future speakers, visit @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.

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Eleonora Bartoli, Ph.D is a therapist who provides counseling and consulting services with expertise in trauma, resilience, and multicultural/social justice issues. Eleonora grew up in Italy and later received her bachelor's in psychology and philosophy at Brandeis University, and her Ph.D in Psychology: Human Development and Mental Health Research at the University of Chicago. On her website, she writes "I began my undergraduate career equally passionate in philosophy and psychology; what ultimately steered me towards clinical training was my passion for action and change, and not simply understanding. This deep desire to make a difference in others’ lives led directly to my commitment to social justice work, as it became clear that too often mental health concerns are triggered by social inequalities and injustice." Read more on her website here.

In this episode, we cover Eleonora's love for teaching, research, and clinical work, her "aha" moments along the way, why a Ph.D was the right degree for her, how she works towards anti-racism as a white clinician, practical tips for choosing graduate school, and much more.

If you still have questions, I invite you to submit them at psychmic.com and follow @psych_mic on Instagram to stay updated and get career tips!

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Shabnam Javdani, Ph.D is a clinical and community psychologist who examines and intervenes in the health and mental health disparities created by persistent inequality. Javdani completed her doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012, and completed an APA-approved clinical internship in the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago prior to coming to NYU.

The overarching goal of her scholarship is to understand and reduce the development of inequality-related mental health and legal problems and study community and institutional responses to these complex challenges. Javdani's research hopes to advance our understanding of people in context, and to identify meaningful individual- and ecological-level solutions.

To read more about Dr. Javdani's research team (RISE - Researching Inequity and Society Ecologically), visit https://wp.nyu.edu/rise/about-rise/

If you are interested in her publications, visit https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/shabnam-javdani

In this episode, we cover her job right out of undergrad, the reasons she pursued a Ph.D in clinical and community psych (and compare this degree to social work), how she builds partnerships with community members, why she built her advocacy program, ROSES, how she approaches systems-change in the face of immense pushback, and much more. Shabnam also provides practical advice during the live audience Q&A, such as how to cultivate a dream-based over a fear-based mindset post-college.

If you still have questions, follow @psych_mic on Instagram, where I'm always collecting questions for speakers, or visit psychmic.com!

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Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer has worked as a science writer for NASA, a biology researcher and a therapist in various settings, including a jail. For many years, her day job has been as an academic psychologist. She has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago and teaches at New York University. She grew up in Sri Lanka and lived in India, Thailand, Canada and Australia before settling in the United States. Her short fiction has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and her essays and short stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Massachusetts Review, Notre Dame Review, The Summerset Review, Quiddity, Michigan Quarterly Review, Stand, The American Literary Review, The Examined Life, and many other venues. She won the Commonwealth Short Story Competition in 2004 and the Iowa Short Fiction Award in 2018. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Her novels are: The Mask Collectors and The Water Diviner and Other Stories.
Learn more at her website: ruvaneevilhauer.com.

In this episode, we cover Ruvanee's unending curiosity, achieving balance, being multi-passionate, tips for choosing graduate schools, how to develop your writing skills, the role of psychology in creative writing (and the role of creativity in psychology), and much more. This episode includes audience Q&A!!!

If you still have questions, follow @psych_mic on Instagram, where I'm always collecting questions for speakers, or visit psychmic.com!

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Hillary Lin, MD is a physician and founder of Curio, a creative and social mental health startup. Hillary was trained at Stanford (BS, MD, GSB Cert, and Residency), where she also developed her passion for healthcare innovation. She also practices internal medicine via telemedicine.

Curio is an end-to-end emotional intelligence diagnostics and training platform working on areas such as emotional resilience, leadership, team bonding, and workplace performance. They offer live workshops as well as self-paced adaptive exercises which are customized for the user and organization.

Hillary has a minor obsession with escape rooms (she’s done 125+ in the last 5 years). She hosts Parlor Nights in her tiny Manhattan apartment where friends and friends of friends come together to discuss deep topics from a salad bowl.

In this episode from one of Psych Mic's LIVE EVENTS, we learn how and why Hillary made the leap of faith from practicing medicine full-time to founding her startup. Along the way she offers practical advice about medical school, self-development, and innovation.

If you still have questions, submit them at psychmic.com or keep up using the Instagram, @psych_mic!

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Curio's socials:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/joincurio

https://twitter.com/joincurio

https://medium.com/joincurio

https://www.instagram.com/joincurio/

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Pascal Wallisch, Ph.D is one of the most adored professors of psychology and data science at NYU. In this episode, we how he moved from "obsessively playing video games, to obsessively taking classes, to obsessively doing research, to obsessively teaching." Along the way, we talk about:

• his German upbringing,
• why passion matters,
• why people who start grad school in their 30s tend to do better,
• why he thinks about teaching like metalworking,
• whether psych is a science,
• fusing data science with psychology,
• why you have to be comfortable with uncertainty to be a researcher,
• learning to code,
• marketing your background in psychology,
• ... and more

If you still have questions, I invite you to SUBMIT THEM at psychmic.com. Make sure to follow @psych_mic on instagram to stay updated and get career tips!

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Carolyn Perla, Ph.D is a therapist and psychoeducator who works with individuals, couples, and groups. She has been practicing for 45 years. In this episode, we explore her beginnings in theater performance and early childhood education, how her relationships inform her practice, why her mentors kept pushing her to pursue more training, whether a background in sex therapy is necessary for working with couples, why Carolyn doesn't (and has never) marketed herself, her attitude towards boundaries and self-disclosure, and  much more.

If you're still curious about things we didn't cover during this episode, submit questions at psychmic.com. so I know what you want to know more about. And follow @psych_mic on Instagram to stay in the loop!

Music by: Adam Fine (Spotify, Soundcloud)

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Weiji Ma, Ph.D is a professor of psychology and neural science at NYU. In this episode, we discuss his  bizarre childhood — he graduated from high school at 14, from college at 16, and with his Ph.D in theoretical physics at 22 — how he decides it's time to pivot, his "delusions of grandeur," how to identify a toxic mentor (and find a great one), how he keeps science human-centered, and more. Read his full bio on psychmic.com. If you're still curious about things we didn't cover during this episode, be sure to submit questions through psychmic.com so I know what you want to know more about!

Weiji also started an initiative called Growing Up In Science, and click here if you want to hear more of his story.

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Learn the story behind Psych Mic and get ready for the first episode on January 21! Visit psychmic.com to submit questions and get more information about our amazing speakers. Music by: Adam Fine