It’s easy to forget your Psychologist is a real person, too. They have put in countless years of schooling, sometimes obtaining a PsyD, and they’ve been studying their whole life for the 60 minutes your warm body graces the adjacent chair each week. Today, I met one such dedicated and kind individual, Dr. Teresa Young, for a shadowing experience at her practice, Generations Psychological & Consultation Services.
Pop Quiz
Q. True of false- Therapeutic rapport with the client is among the most important predictors of favorable outcomes in therapy?
A. True! That’s why I brought Dr. Teresa a piping hot cup of coffee from one of my favorite watering holes, Cup O Joe.
Teresa specializes in chronic pain, grief and loss, and life transitions. She studied at Tennessee State University, an HBCU, and did so purposely to learn as much as she could focus on learning her specialty areas of interest, African Americans and social justice. Her treatment approaches include the gold standard of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), as well as many other trusted modalities like Motivational Interviewing (MI), Mindfulness-Based (MBCT), and Culturally Sensitive.
Teresa and I discussed her LPC/PsyD track and my current LSW track, as well as some of the benefits and challenges of each. She currently enjoys the opportunity and responsibility to mentor student interns from Old Dominion University. Teresa still visits her mentor at Illinois State when she goes back to visit her Redbird scholars. The importance of a mentor cannot be understated, as they help serve as a professional mirror and resource along your journey. I sure miss my mentor, Dwight O. Hodgin. I think of him often and with compassion and pride. In 1999, Mr. Hodgin brought in a PsyD to speak to our Peer Assistant Listeners (PALs) class about the profession. I was so thrilled, because not only was she in a line of work I fancied, she also was a gay woman. At Mr. Hodgin’s funeral, the co-instructor of my PALs class shared that he brought the speaker in specifically for me and another queer student to show us we would be successful and it would get better. I specifically remember one classmate having his parents sign a form so he “didn’t have to listen to a lesbian.” Thank goodness we are moving further away from this homophobia and pathology mindset. Thank you, Mr. Hodgin!
Teresa and I each shared a bit about our professional experiences within corporate workplaces and academia (not all of which were favorable, and all of which helped us to believe in ourselves and strengthen our resilience). We also shared a few non-school novels that we are reading that the other might enjoy. Finally, Teresa took time to encourage me along in my studies. “Keep trusting your intuition. It’s done well to have gotten you this far!” I left feeling warm, affirmed, and encouraged to continue developing my passion in social work, my raison d’être.
If you would like to learn more about Teresa’s practice or see if you might be good fit as a client at her practice, please reach out to her at (380) 207-1267.
Here’s to continued growth and learning for us all. Thank you, Teresa!