The Care Team at the University of Anchorage Alaska (UAA) is one of the many helpful resources available to students who struggling emotionally or going through a crisis. Their goal is to remind students that UAA cares about their well-being and success. Such incredible program is run by Lisa Terwilliger (L. Terwilliger, personal communication, March 8, 2016). I had the privileged to interview her and learn a few things about her role as the Care Team coordinator and as a helping professional in the field of psychology.
Lisa has a Masters in Counseling from Alaska Pacific University. Like me, she studied psychology as an undergraduate at UAA. She has a National Certificated Counselor (NCC) and License of Professional Counseling (LPC) license, …show more content…
For example, she helps students who have PTSD and have gotten triggered by certain topics in class, are suicidal, mentally ill or who have been affected by a sudden life tragedy. At the beginning of her career, her sessions with students were very formal as she tried to use the theories that she learned from her education, but soon enough she noticed that it was unrealistic to analyze every situation and to apply a specific psychological perspective. She currently relies on the ideas of motivational interviewing, DBT, solution-focused coping, rational emotive therapy (RET) and mindfulness. Most students improve in well-being once she helps them connect with resources and find social support. The biggest challenge is that she cannot stop students from relapsing into maladaptive coping strategies even after the original problem was resolved. Ethical issues sometimes arise when she has to respect the privacy of the students and at the same time contact people, such as professors and family members. She tries to get the students consent before getting other people involved in the …show more content…
My personal interest in psychology include suicide prevention, mental illness, mindfulness and psychotherapy. If I had a job in clinical psychology, my interest would probably be satisfied. The question is whether I want to work with a specific population and providing a specific kind of help. Lisa works with college students who are struggling and I find her job interesting because it has a lot of variety and it involves helping people that really need the help. Generally, I would be happy with any career that makes me feel like I am making a difference in people’s lives. Therefore, I would like a job like Lisa’s. The only thing that I worry about is the amount of stress that people go through when they work with people who have serious problems. Right now, I do not have healthy coping skills, so it might take a few years before I feel like I can be a therapist or
Lisa has a Masters in Counseling from Alaska Pacific University. Like me, she studied psychology as an undergraduate at UAA. She has a National Certificated Counselor (NCC) and License of Professional Counseling (LPC) license, …show more content…
For example, she helps students who have PTSD and have gotten triggered by certain topics in class, are suicidal, mentally ill or who have been affected by a sudden life tragedy. At the beginning of her career, her sessions with students were very formal as she tried to use the theories that she learned from her education, but soon enough she noticed that it was unrealistic to analyze every situation and to apply a specific psychological perspective. She currently relies on the ideas of motivational interviewing, DBT, solution-focused coping, rational emotive therapy (RET) and mindfulness. Most students improve in well-being once she helps them connect with resources and find social support. The biggest challenge is that she cannot stop students from relapsing into maladaptive coping strategies even after the original problem was resolved. Ethical issues sometimes arise when she has to respect the privacy of the students and at the same time contact people, such as professors and family members. She tries to get the students consent before getting other people involved in the …show more content…
My personal interest in psychology include suicide prevention, mental illness, mindfulness and psychotherapy. If I had a job in clinical psychology, my interest would probably be satisfied. The question is whether I want to work with a specific population and providing a specific kind of help. Lisa works with college students who are struggling and I find her job interesting because it has a lot of variety and it involves helping people that really need the help. Generally, I would be happy with any career that makes me feel like I am making a difference in people’s lives. Therefore, I would like a job like Lisa’s. The only thing that I worry about is the amount of stress that people go through when they work with people who have serious problems. Right now, I do not have healthy coping skills, so it might take a few years before I feel like I can be a therapist or