Standing Stone Career Day
I was happy to speak at the the Standing Stone Elementary School Career Day. Understanding what a Clinical Psychology / Assistant Professor does is hard enough for adults (just ask my family and friends). So I began by stating that the central goal is to better understand how and why people struggle. This question can be pursued in multiple ways, which can include the deeply personal and individualized setting of therapy, the more formalized and systematic approach in research, and the interactive and intellectually-engaging setting of teaching. We discussed how an Assistant Professor is a unique job that integrates all of these methods for understanding people. I then presented on the broad topic of "friendships" and taught the students about agency (dominant vs. submissive) and communion (friendly vs. distant) as the core dimensions to consider in friendships. We discussed how these dimensions relate to research (e.g. complementarity), therapy (e.g. patients needing to learn skills for dominance and friendliness, noticing the dominance and friendliness exchanges in the therapy room), and teaching (how I teach these interpersonal dimensions in college). I was very pleased to see how engaged the students were, and happy to see that the interpersonal circle can be relevant even at this young age.