Psychology. As some of you may already know, I was a Psychology major in undergrad (at West Chester University). Although my fascination spreads to many areas of Psychology, my main focus was on autism through the scope of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). After only a few months of studying a theoretical side of autism, and more broadly--learning disabilities, a professor recommended that I get some practical experience. This took on several shapes: a year-long internship at a charter school applying Positive Behavioral Support (PBS) on all three tiers (individual, classroom, school-wide) where I had the opportunity to work with a sophomore, a 3rd grader, a 4th grader, and a whole 3rd grade classroom, a mentor-ship through a local YMCA with a 20 year old Extended School Year (ESY) participant, involvement in "Parent's Night Out"--a monthly broad scale babysitting event for parents of kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), joining Council for Exceptional Children and Psi Chi. To this day, I still love Psychology.
Autism clinic. After getting involved in all of these wonderful forms of busyness, I also heard of a wonderful place called SPARC (Southeastern Pennsylvania Autism Resource Center). The same professor who suggested that I get involved with everything that was mentioned above also thought I may benefit from working at SPARC... so I did. At first I was only involved in the feeding program (since it was in the morning time before class and work and everything else), which uses ABA techniques to help children with feeding disorders (different than eating disorders). Ages in this program usually ranged from two to twelveish, although no one who sought help would be turned away. After a semester, I was also involved in social skills training. Social skills focused more specifically on ASD and the age ranges were from about five to fourteen. I can't tell you how much useful experience I got from working at SPARC. I loved my job so much that it convinced me to seek a Ph.D in psychology (autism research was the topic of my proposed potential disertation). I was accepted into two different five year programs: Fuller and Michigan--both of which I turned down to come to seminary. =)
"The reaction." One of the practical things I learned from my experience in Psychology has been to anticipate "the reaction." So what is "the reaction." Ok so, envision this, you're at some social event, you're chatting it up with some new people, and the topic of what-you-do-for-a-living comes up. And since you are being me from last year, you would say, "(I'm a student), I work at an autism clinic." Then you get "the reaction": this surprised look, guarded posture, speech filled with anuniciated pauses, and usually a question like, "So, you're a psychoanalyst. And you're reading my behavior then?! Tell me what I'll do next!" It's always quite interesting, and some version of the above response is bound to occur. I have also noticed that this happens to pastors and seminarians. Except now, the verbal response is more like one of those hard questions of theology, "Why do people suffer?" "Prove to me that God exists." "If God is good... then [insert comment here]." In general, people have some quirky views and expectations of what they think psychologists and pastors are like.
Pastoral Care. In my four years at WCU, I took every single psychology course offered except for six. These included classes like: Pharmocology, Psychology of Learning, Applied Behavioral Analysis, Developmental Psychology, Psychology of Women, Intro Psychology, Counseling, Theories of Personality, Psychotherapy, Abnormal Psychology, Positive Psychology, Social Psychology, Research Methods, Behavioral & Statistical Psychology, Human Sexuality, Family Systems Psychology, Adult Development, Infant-Child & Adolescent Development, Psychodrama, Biopsychology, Animal Behavior, et al. Each of these classes has taught me something very important about human development, human behavior, and/or the human mind. All of which have been incredibly helpful in my pastoral care endeavors here at seminary. I am quite literally breezing through my Pastoral Care class because I have such a heavy background in clinical theory and practice.
How this helps: Pastoral Care, Clinical Pastoral Education, working with children.
Next Post: "Don't talk at People!"
God's Blessings!
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