Yeah.
Welcome.
I see we have a couple of attendees interested in studying psychology at Divine Mercy.
And I will give you just a little background and, information on the program.
Just a little background, right?
Who we are as a program, what is our main emphasis focus.
And then if you wanna have if you have questions, if you would put those in the chat and just fire away and love any kind of questions.
But, first of all, thinking through why study psychology, right?
You're looking at the master's in psychology, it's a graduate program.
What do we focus on in our degree?
We're nonclinical, we're non licensing.
So the MSP is different from like a counseling program or all the clinical licensing programs.
Reason for that is that we are a very, broad program in the sense that we have a wonderfully rich and very diverse group of students in our program.
We have people who work in Silicon Valley and have leadership position, management positions in their companies, and they come to us to say, I am leading I I've done computers, but I don't know anything about people.
Can you help us?
So they come to get, a deeper understanding of a person.
They come to us for leadership training.
We have just quite a few priests, sisters, consecrated, who are in all kinds of different ministries, spiritual formation settings, and they would like to understand the person better to be more effective in their ministry.
We have a growing number of healthcare providers, doctors, nurses, physical therapists who have worked as healthcare providers and come to us with that need for a fresh view of the person, a holistic view of the person.
So, quite a few Catholic educators and a variety of different settings.
So for us, we have these core values that we feel are essential for graduate level education in psychology that will be beneficial for our students in the variety of settings, that they are.
So, first of all, we're helping people to to come to a deeper understanding of themselves and of others.
In literally any kind of work and ministry setting, having a deeper understanding of yourself as well as a better understanding of the people around you and people you work with will make you more effective in your work in ministry.
So we are guiding people in that process as they walk through the program.
We have a big emphasis on growing personally and professionally.
APA also has that as part of the core pieces of graduate level education in psychology.
We have a flourishing development plan where everybody thinks through setting goals, long term and short term, in each of the three areas of vocation.
So we want and we want people to grow professionally as well in the different settings where they are.
And then our really core tenor across all settings, concentrations is leading individuals and groups to flourishing.
And we have that very wonderfully positive outlook of the person to, be an instrument to help others move towards flourishing.
I think we see that support from scripture for our core pieces.
Right?
We we see in Psalm one thirty nine, search me, oh, God, know my heart.
And that before God, knowing ourselves, we have a piece of carry each other's burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.
That that deep sense of providing support and helping others as they move towards flourishing.
And then Romans 12, right, to discern what is good and acceptable and perfect.
So so what are kind of part of the pieces of this program?
Right?
We we are guiding students through understanding behaviors, thoughts, and emotions to knowing the core areas of psychology.
One of that is human development.
Seeing the person developmentally, is a core part in the program and developmental psychologist myself, what's my doctorate is in, and knowing the person and where they are at in the life journey is an essential part of understanding people better.
We have a course in psychopathology, looking also from a developmental perspective, looking at risk and resiliency.
We're talking about biological effective cognitive basis for behavior.
Really a core part of psychology.
We are having a class in social psychology.
How do I understand biases, prejudices, group dynamics?
So, and of course part of psychology is psychological research methods as well as psychometrics.
And then we've added, concentrations depending on your interest.
So, looking, you know, at the Catholic Christian vision of the person, we we pull that in.
I'm not gonna go into detail on all these pieces, but our program, which I love, has this wonderfully rich understanding of the person.
Are we not only looking at psychology?
We're not only looking at theology?
Are we taking psychology, philosophy, and theology and pulling them together to get this deeper and richer understanding of the whole person.
So just as a a final piece, as as you think about this degree, having the understanding of ourselves and others, we're growing personally and professionally, and then we're letting learning skills and tools to leading individuals and groups to flourishing.
And, below, you see what other pieces, that we are doing that with.
Today, we're gonna take a little bit, special emphasis.
You see here under the second block, we have the scientific mindedness, which is part of graduate level education in psychology, right?
It's essential, to be able to look at a program, to be able to look at an intervention and bring the expert view because you have looked at the research literature.
You are aware of what the literature teaches and and says, not teaches, says about what helps married couples flourish.
Right?
What are risk factors, towards marital conflict and divorce?
How do I can how can I list empathically and what do we know from the literature?
What is the best way of building relationships?
So in the pre PhD track, you have a special opportunity.
To and I'm gonna stop sharing my screen or I'll leave this up for a little bit longer, to go deeper into exploring that scientific mindedness and really preparing if you wanted to go on for advanced studies after our master's degree.
So it gives you an opportunity to have exposure to a content area.
So two of your electives, you can choose freely depending on your interest.
You have a concentration in marriage and family studies, you have a concentration in leadership.
You can take an extra class, philosophy class, integrative class if you're interested.
But then you will take what you have learned from the different classes and you will apply it in a thesis where you can go in-depth into the research literature.
You get individualized attention and feedback from a faculty member.
That you can explore that area of interest more deeply and really also grow in your ability to write with excellence and with clarity and communicate well your findings from the research literature.
So we're just adding that course, in the next year where it's normally gonna be a smaller course.
So you can have lots of input and feedback from fractions of a thesis.
And you will use, you may have heard already when you've talked to people that we have a capstone project as part of the program.
During your capstone project, you start off by thinking of really a problem, an issue in an applied setting that you have observed.
Maybe young couples in your parish are struggling.
Teenagers are stopped going to mass.
You see anxiety of high school kids in your Catholic school where you're teaching.
Right?
It's something that you have observed and you're like, wow, how could we address that?
Like, what would be a way preventatively or to apply it to to address that issue?
So initially, you will gain a deeper understanding.
You will go to the research literature and say, well, how can I understand this better?
Like, why why are adolescents struggling with anxiety?
Why so much so much more prevalence of anxiety and depression in young people right now?
So you will explore the literature to get a deeper understanding.
So you become the expert on that thing, on that topic you are studying.
Then you will develop kind of different parts pieces of that capstone project in different courses.
And towards the end of the program, you will develop an intervention, mostly psychoeducational in nature, to address the issue that you have identified.
So everybody does it in the different classes.
But if you are thinking that you may wanna go on for doctoral work or you really want to dig deeper in the thesis class, you can take a whole term and just work with faculty to dig deeper and explore and write your capstone thesis.
So that's kind of for the pre PhD track.
The other two electives, you can choose freely what is offered in the term.
Or if you know one of the faculty members has an area of expertise expertise that you would love to grow in, we can, have you do an independent study with that faculty member as well.
So that's just a little bit of background about the program and about, the pre PhD track.
And if there are questions, put them in the chat.
Really happy to answer any kind of thoughts, questions you have.
And this is Michelle, and I'm actually, pinch hitting.
I've been admissions for a long, long time, but we had a promotion in our organization.
And I'm now the alumni, relations person, so I get to see where people go after they graduate.
And, one of the things that I'll encourage any of you who are on the call today to do is to set up just a brief, similar to this, just an information session on, you know, are there scholarship opportunities?
How long is it gonna take me each day to study?
I'm so delighted that we have gone forward and put in these additional choices, which were asked for, you know, by students that we had worked with through the years.
So as doctor Julius says, please feel free to put anything in the chat that you have any questions about.
But typically, very important just to set up a brief, opportunity.
And I know you all registered for this, so I'll probably give you a callback or a quick email with my contact information so that we can make sure that all of your questions are answered.
And we're so glad to have doctor Julie on here today because she can give more in-depth relative to what's going on at the education level for those individuals who are qualified to enter the program.
So thank you.
I was having some technology issues, so I'm sorry I was a little late.
Well, I would love to hear from the attendees.
Right?
Are you thinking doctoral work afterwards, clinical doctoral work, research work?
Right?
Is that really, helpful to think through?
What's an area you may wanna go in further?
I know there are a couple places in Canada where people are trying to get licensed.
That's not possible with our degree in The United States, but there are certain states in Canada.
They're they're looking for a thesis class.
So that's important to them.
But, yeah, we'd love to hear what people are thinking, areas of study or work they're wanting to go into.
And you're welcome to put those in the chat.
I can give a little more information on, the focus, the emphasis on the program, what it'll be like when you start.
We're adding a few more components.
We're asynchronous.
We're fully asynchronous, because we have a lot of students from different parts of the world, which makes wonderful discussion and discussion posts, wonderful, interactions.
But except in course one, we have a two day live virtual residency.
So we will we will all be in the same Zoom room from ten to five eastern time.
So and it's a wonderful time because you see everybody in your cohort.
You meet the faculty.
We're giving some background on the program.
We're giving you the first introduction to integration.
What's special about the way we do psychology?
So we'll have a couple discussion groups and, presentations on that.
Now we start with skills practice.
How do I listen effectively?
How do I communicate?
How do I attend, show empathy?
So skills that are really essential to any work with any person that could be leadership.
You can be a CEO of a company or you can be a Catholic educator or a nurse.
Being able to be present with a person and a building relationship is really an important essential part to working with people.
So we've added those pieces, to the residency, have made wonderful experiences.
I think everybody has loved connecting that way.
A lot of our students have a WhatsApp group, and that's kinda developed over the last couple years.
They are connect in course one.
I have some courses where people interact every day.
In terms of live segments, Crest does offer at least three live Zoom meetings.
So if you love the live interaction, it's provided in every single course.
So we have, those three meetings in every course where you can be live with a faculty member and other students.
Average great question.
What's the average daily study time required to complete the MSP in sixteen month or twenty four month?
Will the PhD be virtual as well?
So we are not offering a virtual PhD, hopefully, one day in the future, but not yet.
Our doctoral program is, a PsyD, and that is in person at the Sterling.
It's an APA licensing, PsyD, clinical psychology.
So in terms of study time, we kinda say sixteen to twenty hours a week, study time, if you are twenty six hours for one course, probably up to thirty hours a week if you are two courses.
So that does push you really at a full time full time slot.
It's a lot of fair amount of reading.
And media, we provide media pieces in pretty much every week.
Then you write discussion posts where you interact with the literature, with the readings of the week, and then you discuss with other people in the class.
So that takes a little bit of time, and then we have some kind of assignment normally at the end of each week, either a reflection, a research paper, making a short video with a small group, presentation.
So different pieces.
And I know a lot of people come who've come from traditional education, and we are asynchronous virtual, and they're like, how do you learn?
How does this work?
And I think in your mind, the the picture that we kinda have started to develop and lean towards is more a formation model of education than a dispensing knowledge part.
So really, we have that vision of a slow growth curve trajectory where every week you read, you write, you discuss.
Every single week you get individualized feedback from a faculty member, which is very you never have that, right, in live programs.
But for us, every single week you get individualized feedback from faculty, and then you start your next week.
And you are reading, you're writing, you're discussing, you're getting individualized feedback.
So and over the weeks, right, that's how you grow and learn growing your skill.
Auditing a class.
Good question.
So auditing is, students do not participate in discussions or assignments if they are auditing.
So I I do not heavily, especially not as a first class, would recommend auditing because you're kinda alone with the material.
And what people have loved is to interact with discussion and getting feedback from faculty, both of which you do not get if you're auditing.
So especially if you're new, sometimes people who are have gone through the program and they're just like, ugh, I just I don't have space in my schedule for this one extra class, but I would love that information.
So they've already almost done with the program.
They'll add one class just to get the information to to cover that, to enrich themselves, but they have experience and they've gone through the growing pieces and the learning pieces of the program.
So but you can do a non degree seeking.
Student, we've had some people who start with just one class and just to check it out, this is a good fit for me.
So you can apply to be non degree seeking and just take a couple classes.
And, there are different people who've done that.
Hi, Susie.
Glad you joined us because I know I sent you an invitation at the last minute.
That is a good question.
We can certainly talk offline because as doctor has said, sometimes it's better just to take that one class for credit versus auditing it because you're participating so much more and then you have a feel because it has been my experience that typically people will go forward because, again, of the way we do online so effectively.
So I think one of the things that is really a strength of our program is that, apart from having that like, I love doing psychology the way we do psychology.
I love the integrative perspective.
I think it's so rich.
I I got my doctorate at a big state school.
No integrative perspective.
So I love the richness of the interaction with our view of the person.
But we are very, very flexible.
We have people who are in full time ministry, people who live overseas, people who are in very busy demanding jobs, people with families.
And we are able to accommodate, and they can they're able to fit in study time because it is a very flexible program.
And that's definitely an asset for for many people in different settings.
And many of the people who come in sometimes will say, oh my gosh, I've never done any online education.
Because many of the folks who come to us are not really fresh out of a bachelor's degree.
They have some life experience.
They have incredible wisdom.
And what starts to happen is that the way we do online, people are forming conversations and writings and incredible lifetime friends.
We just got back from a graduation in May, and it's always amazing to me that people who never saw each other over two years have this incredibly deep relationship.
And so because we are invested in everyone's success, being smaller, being unique in the way we teach psychology, it's pretty amazing what happens with lifetime relations.
And again, I can say that for sure because I used to be in admissions, and now I'm at the back end in alumni and graduates, hiring graduates, and people who are constantly staying in touch and I have an advisory board who helps us all stay in touch.
So it is something that once you find your stride, that's what I always say to new students, becomes just part of your day.
It's kind of like listening to a video in the car and you're really I mean, listening to an audio in the car and you can't wait to get back in the car and hear the next chapter.
And that's a quote from a student.
So, obviously, we love what we do.
And if it's right, and that's one of the things we try to do is to give realistic realistic expectations.
If it's not right, you know, we understand.
But if it is, you're gonna find some some real joy.
So that's, personal and professional.
Yeah.
Well, our faculty, because of the nature of our program and the school and the outlook we have, our faculty are wonderfully engaged.
You can always send an email and meet people on Zoom one on one.
I teach statistics in the program.
I meet people one on one all the time because some people love statistics more than others, so I know it's hard for some people.
But I have wonderful times meeting with people one on one.
We run analysis together.
We we work on assignments, and it's a great way to to get to know one another and master the material and, do assignments.
So and I know a lot of our faculty meet with people very regularly and one on one.
And everyone has a different reason for entering the degree.
That's one of the things that I do upfront with every individual that I speak with is let's talk about long term, What you really are trying to accomplish.
Sometimes it's getting a raise as a teacher.
Sometimes it's, going into an RCIA program.
Sometimes it's a priest who wants to really expand his knowledge on dealing with situations that have changed in the world.
And so I think it's important again for realistic expectations as I talk to people.
Let's show you all the opportunities that are out there as well.
And sometimes it changes in your in your in your journey and other times you're just focused on the direction you're going.
So I think that's important that you have that awareness as well.
Yeah.
As you know, if you've worked in an area through the capstone project, right, you can really go deeper.
I'm just working with somebody who is a chaplain in the military and who was deployed and has, been working on more injury, has worked with some people who've really struggled.
And he's just like, I just wanna understand better what these people are going through and how to help effectively.
So he's writing this capstone project on supporting military members or veterans, who struggled with moral injury.
And, through the psychological literature and being able to read research literature, he's, really been able to dive deeply and understand those processes better and, was actually asked in the military to provide significant support for people who've come back from deployment.
So it's, for us, it's wonderful to see how our program reaches so many places and people and, helps people grow.
I've done somebody who several people have worked on burnout prevention and their companies understanding factors that contribute to burnout risk.
And people burnout in ministry, we have had several people write on that.
Just how can I provide a ministry support setting structure that if people are having compassion fatigue or first signs of burnout, we we have a system, a supportive system in place?
So just fascinating work and ministry places our students are at.
Well, we certainly thank each of you for your gift of time today.
And like I said, we'll be circling back just to make sure, you know, I hung up and I forgot to ask this question.
And, you know, sometimes it's better to individual each conversation.
But we really appreciate you attending today and hope you got all your answers.
Thank you Doctor.
Julia.
Good to.
Thanks for coming.
Bye bye everyone.