First of all, I'd like to welcome everybody this evening and thank you for attending the, webinar q and a with our PsyD alumnus, doctor Charles Russell.
This evening's, not a set agenda, if you will.
The idea is for the participants, those that are looking to, start classes in the fall and, others that may be interested in this ID program, have an opportunity to, talk with doctor Russell and go through his experience both as a admitted student to, DMU and to, you know, maybe talk a little bit about his time while on campus and then what he's done with his degree and his experiences while he was here at DMU.
Now he's out in the world working and, the rest of the program.
But I do wanna introduce doctor, Charles Russell, and maybe he can say hello to everybody.
And then, we'll go ahead and start with some of the questions and see what we can do.
Good day, everyone.
It's my pleasure to be with you.
Happy to answer any questions you may have.
I would ask that you keep the the people of Ukraine and Russia in your prayers.
Dear friend of mine is actually being evacuated as we speak.
So if you and his name is George.
So if you wouldn't mind, keeping George and everyone who's in the crossfire in your prayers.
Alright.
Doctor Russell, thank you very much.
For those that are online, the easy way to ask your question, if you look at the bottom of your screen, you'll see a q and a, and you'll see a chat.
If you could click on the q and a, that's where you can basically ask some questions.
We do have some folks from our communications department that'll be helping us with this as well.
So as you come up with questions, enter them into the q and a, and that's how we'll be able to ask, doctor Russell or myself, those questions, and hopefully, we'll be able to help you out.
So what I'll do is while some of you were thinking of those questions, I'll start with the easy one, doctor Russell.
What made you think about, DMU, and why did you choose DMU PsyD program?
So, I was in seminary prior to beginning the psychology program.
I've become interested in psychology just as I've just unexpectedly become interested in psychology.
And when I just turned out of seminary, I knew I wanted to, go on, and I I knew that I wanted to study psychology.
So when when I'd I'd pardon me.
I'd heard about, then it was called the the Institute for Psychological Sciences.
I'd heard about the program, and I just did some research on it.
And I knew I wanted to be in a Catholic environment that that espoused this, similar anthropology.
Although I at the time, I wasn't fully aware of that, but that's what I was looking for, but turned out to be exactly what I was looking for.
Okay.
Well, appreciate that.
So as you mentioned, you came in back when we, when the school was actually IPS or Institute of Psychological Sciences.
And, obviously, we changed back in 2016 to Divine Mercy University when we added the school of counseling.
So you came in under the old program where you actually came in under the master's degree, first, and then you were chosen to join the PsyD program.
Is that correct?
Yes.
Okay.
And you graduated in 2017?
Yes.
Okay.
Alright.
Can you tell us maybe a little bit about your experiences while you were at, IPS slash DMU, as a student?
Maybe a little bit about how you felt about your instructors, some of the rigor of the program maybe, what you thought you liked the most, any of those things you may feel, would help some of the current students.
Sure.
So, my experience was a bit unique coming from seminary and never having taken a psychology course.
I didn't really know anything.
So all of my my psychology training, academic training, at least, came from what was then the Institute of Psychological Sciences.
And, so when I started, I really didn't know what to expect.
I had I I had started a graduate program in seminary, so I was familiar with graduate school.
But, it was a bit of a transition moving from philosophy and theology into science.
Although, when we started, at least at the time, doctor Craig Titus, was teaching forget the exact course, but it was essentially a philosophy class.
And I I remember sitting there, in the first semester thinking, like, everything in my life has prepared me.
And, of course, I really enjoyed those those classes.
That was very, something I was very accustomed to.
Mhmm.
But I also really liked the I don't exactly know what they were I don't remember exactly what the technical term for them is called, but they were, like, essentially, the makeup classes.
So I had to I had to take some classes to make up for the fact that I didn't already have a degree in psychology.
And I enjoyed those because it was just a wide breadth of of information that allowed me to certainly not catch up to someone who already had a bachelor's degree, but it allowed me, in psychology, but it allowed me to to, like, see what, you know, the wide breadth of psychology as a field.
And, you know, and I tend to soak up information like a sponge.
So, it that was great for me.
And I feel like I may have missed part of the question.
No.
It's okay.
So let's talk a little bit about, the instructors.
You mentioned doctor Titus.
There's there's several professors still around from from that time frame.
Is that something you, we have a lot of students to keep in touch with their professors and and vice versa.
Is that something you still do as well?
No.
I have not, I have not kept up with my professors, although I hold them in very high esteem.
My first, supervisor was, doctor Harvey Payne, and, he and I he was my first supervisor at IPS center, and that was his first year This is pre pre DMU, pre counseling program.
And, of course, in he's great.
Doctor Paul Vitz is wonderful, doctor Phil Scrofani.
I mean, some pea some people aren't are no longer there, that I'm thinking of.
But, doctor Lisa Kulicki, I'm not sure if she's if she's still on faculty.
She's actually the dean of the program now.
Yes.
Perfect.
She is I mean, to be quite honest, the education I received from my perspective was, like, really world class.
It was hardcore science.
Like, it wasn't, it wasn't, like, a bible counseling program or anything like that.
It was very hardcore science.
I've and I I really liked everyone.
K.
Let's talk a little bit about, your time kinda post, classes, your internship and externship, and how it prepared you for, kind of the real world.
Can you expand on that a little bit?
Yeah.
So my first externship as, I'm assuming it's still the case, was at, the IPS center, for for psychological services.
And that was a really wonderful experience for a variety of reasons, but, actually, I learned I I learned partially because I didn't always know what to say because I was brand new, that I learned the value of silence and how much silence with a person can help them.
Some people might be surprised to hear that because I tend to talk a lot, but, it's I learned really the value of of letting people remain in silence and not trying to, like, rush in and and save them or protect them, from their discomfort.
My second externship was at a place called, Expressive Therapy Center, which is in Maryland, and that allowed me to really move out of my my original lens was very psychodynamic, and it allowed me to move out of that into not only working with with a lot of children.
Worked did a lot of group work, in children's group work.
And, it also gave me exposure to, different types of therapy.
So, the expressive therapy.
It's like dance therapy and art there and, a little bit of music there.
And so and having had that experience, it allowed me to to really change how I conceptualize people and and look at the problems that they face?
Because I've it was it was a that that's a particularly difficult assignment.
At least that's how it was then.
Presume that it's still now, if we're still taking x rays, because it's really busy.
But it was a it was a really great experience in seeing what these other types of therapies can provide, and I learned so much from those other treatment providers.
I did my internship at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, and, of course, that works on a match system, so I matched there.
And the university counseling center setting is kind of considered, like, cushy or, like, the best type of place to be because they're really focused on training.
And so in that in that setting, I was able to not only work with, a wide variety, of young adults, at a really important time in their lives, but I also was able to excuse me, was also able to learn EMDR, which was part of the training program.
I was able to work on different projects that advanced important Catholic social issues, like, ensuring access to health care for for people who need it.
And then I did my residency at the universe pardon me, at Appalachian State University in, North Carolina, the Western Mountains boom.
And I didn't know it at the time, but that is an ultra liberal university.
And I never had a problem.
I was surprised that I that I never had an issue with, you know, different views.
It allowed me to to empathize with people that maybe I hadn't come across in different, settings.
And, it was also difficult because it was extremely busy, but it it was it was a really wonderful experience, overall.
In fact, I probably would have stayed there except for I couldn't see myself, like, settling down there permanently.
But I loved the people I worked with.
I loved loved the job.
And then, I got a job.
My, like, first post training job was at Saint Luke Institute in Sour Spring, Maryland just outside of, Washington.
And, I was a primary treatment provider for two and a half years.
The St.
Luke Institute, for those who don't know, is a psychiatric.
Or what at the time, it's changed now.
But at the time, it was a residential psychiatric hospital for, primarily Catholic priests and nuns.
They did get some Protestants and some Orthodox, but it was, predominantly, Catholic.
And that, if you get a chance to work in a psychiatric hospital of any kind, it's a really great experience.
It's not always fun, and it's certainly not easy, but it's it's great experience.
And then after two and a half years there, I started thinking about, you know, my own goals in life, and I decided that I wanted to be closer to my family.
And so, I resigned my position there at the beginning or at the end of twenty twenty, and took a position at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, where I'm at now.
And, that has also been, a real learning curve because, whereas being in a psychiatric a residential psychiatric hospital, everything was in person even through 2020.
But now I'm doing pretty much all telehealth.
So that's, that's taken some getting used to and and learning how to augment, you know, my skill set with with that medium.
But, yeah.
So even though most of my work critical work has been in, university counseling centers, it it feels to me that it's been very different.
It hasn't been like a cookie cutter sort of thing.
Well, that that's quite a diverse road that you traveled there amongst, I'm I'm very familiar with Boone, and and the university out there and, and, the the the unit in Maryland that you worked at.
You know, there's a lot of our students talk to us about the integrated model.
They have a lot of quest questions around the Catholic Christian meta model of the person or what we call the DMU integrated model.
Do you feel that that was an advantage for you or helped you or is still helping you maybe in your work today and then what you, you know, kind of the road you've traveled?
To be quite honest, like, I I think I really do think that it was called something different when I was a student, but the the integrated model, it it really makes me different.
And not just me.
I've of, you know, presuming that this is true of of my my colleagues and my cohort and and others.
Like, I'm just I don't like, I find that people want to talk to me more.
I don't get so many people, like, dropping out of of of therapy.
It's it allows me to take into consideration the whole of the person and without, like, truncating them.
And, one thing that I didn't realize actually until, this year is that the the way that we were trained, is really trauma informed, which is, like, which is the new burgeoning, I guess, lens to be looking at, trauma informed care.
And I I think because we're looking at the whole person, not just, like, what are like, what is the problem and what are your coping skills?
You know, we're we're looking at, like, positive psychology and, like like, wanting to build that up, but we're also looking at, like, no.
There are problems too.
And those things need to be addressed and resolved to move forward.
But, I have regularly encountered, people from other programs that are I don't wanna sound Oh, you could say it.
Arrogant or anything like that or, like, anything like that.
But they would say really unscientific things, and it seemed like it's because they have this really narrow view of a human person.
And so, again, I I just really think that that set.
It has earned me a lot of praise from my colleagues and, my superiors, but I I really have to attribute that to the integrated model.
You know, and I would I would agree with your assumption.
We often hear that our our students, our graduates are typically better prepared, early on, because of the integrated model training that they receive, and, that usually puts them a little ahead of their peers from other universities.
It's not a knock on the other universities.
It's just kind of a fact.
So alright.
So real quick, there's a couple questions.
One, I'm gonna table because it's asking about length of courses and things like that.
But one of them is, can I ask a financial question?
What is your funding?
Where you where were you on loans or scholarships or grants?
So I think at the time that you were here, DMU didn't have a ton of scholarships.
So maybe you can explain a little bit how you funded your way through school, and then I can expand on that for the current situation.
Sure.
So when I was there, funding was limited.
And so, also, I was a first generation college student, and so my parents had no idea.
And I didn't have any idea because I was my undergrad was seminary, so it was a very different experience than someone who maybe went to, like, a like, a state school and had, like, research experience.
So I didn't really know better.
But so I decided to go, all private, you know, DNEU, and so that meant loans.
So I am I've currently worked my career in, nonprofits, and so I'm part of the public student loan forgiveness program, which thankfully has been recently beefed up and is looking like it's it's actually gonna work.
So, yeah, so that is something to really, really consider.
And, of course, I don't know about other resources currently available.
But that that is definitely something to consider.
If you ask me, would I go back and do something different?
I don't think I would.
Yes.
I have a lot of student debt, but I would still make the same choice.
Well, that's excellent to hear.
For those of you that don't know, my name is Tom Brooks, and I'm the vice president for enrollment here at DMU.
And, I arrived on campus around 2015 back when we were still in, Crystal City, Virginia.
And, I, helped create the current scholarship program.
And in short, if you go on to the DMU website, you go to, financial aid scholarships, you'll see there's, you know, several, scholarships.
Some of you on the on the, the webinar here have already taken place are taken, or, I'm sorry, gone through the, interview, sessions in either group one or group two, and we have a third group coming up March 4.
But all have been able to compete for up to 50% off in tuition.
And we have a couple 25%.
And then we have a slew of other scholarship opportunities from, you know, military.
We have some for folks like police, first responders, things like that.
You know, we try to look at the different different demographics attending DMU, and we try to address that.
We have international scholarships.
We also have what's called a memorandum of understanding, which is a really nice thing because, if you work for an organization that is, interested in partnering with the Divine Mercy University in a memorandum of understanding or what we call an MOU, That's also a tuition reduction program up to 20% for students, and if you're a priest, up to 25%.
And we have a lot of, diocese, tons of parishes, a lot of other religious orders, missions, missionaries, things like that that have partaken in the in the program.
We have a lot of a lot of our students going to school right now that are either under an MOU, and almost everybody, get some kind of scholarship.
So what I recommend everybody is do your homework.
This is the part of being in grad school.
Go to the website.
Go to the scholarships page.
Start digging through and figuring out where you can you can compete for scholarships.
Make sure that you do well doing your group interviews and things like that so you can be, you know, kinda rated at a high level.
We've already given out the first group, and we'll be giving out the second one, in early March.
So unlike when you were going through school, doctor Russell, there's quite a few funding options now for our students.
And we do take things like the GI bill and, you know, tuition assistance.
You know, some people work in areas.
And then something that you mentioned that I think is important, and maybe you can expand on it just a little bit since you've you've experienced it.
The the repayment program, working through nonprofits, can you expand on that just a tiny bit in your experience with it?
Yeah.
So it's a basically, a program to encourage people to work for nonprofits, which tend to pay less.
So things like, universities or or, like, Saint Luke Institute where I worked was a was a nonprofit as well.
Like, any not any five zero one c three organization qualifies, basically.
And there's a there's a whole host of other ones as well.
But, basically, you have your employment certified by your employer.
You send it in.
And if you the program is set up so that if you work ten years and make, a 120 qualifying payments, the remainder of your what you owe is written off.
Now the one thing to know about that is, number one, you have to be an American citizen.
Number two, the writing writing writing off the student loan debt is considered income, and so you need to be saving.
So that way, you can be taxed as though you're making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for that one year.
So, so that is something something to be aware of.
But, it's essentially a 120 qualifying payments.
Now right now, those all those payments are suspended because of COVID.
That was something done under under Donald Trump that was then continued by Joe Biden, which, means that's for almost two years.
So it's, like, 24 payments I have not had to make, but it still counts toward those twenty four months still count toward, paying off, the the student debt.
Now I in a slightly different name, well, did it did I satisfy the question?
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Okay.
In a slightly different name, for, anyone who's who's listening, who's an international student or who would be an international student, funding education is really good at all because it's really expensive.
And so it it's hard if you're not independent of wealth.
And so if DMU can provide you provide international scholarships, that is incredible because I've worked for three state universities.
And in every single one of them, I've encountered international students who are cons like, consistently running into problems with funding their education because things change once they get there or, you know, just incidentals of life come up, and they don't they don't have extra money.
So if if there are international scholarships, that is great news.
I think before, it may have been a little difficult.
And in many schools, it is.
I but prior to working at DMU, I've been in other places where international funding was a little bit tough for those folks, but we addressed that several years ago.
And, you know, each year in the PsyD program, we have anywhere from two to three, sometimes four students coming in.
I think last year, we had three international students, and all of them are got to partake in the scholarship program, not just with international scholarships.
One of them was one of our 25% winners.
So we, you know, we we try to make sure that everybody that wants to attend has some opportunity with funding.
So, you know, unlike what you you know, the experience before, I think we're trying to change that.
You know, we're looking to bring in a fairly diverse demographic into the university.
We feel like, you know, students working or, you know, coming from The United States, you know, even coming from different parts of The United States, that helps in the, discussions, interaction in your cohort, those kind of things.
But adding international students into that, I think you get a world flavor.
The Weimer University as a whole is about 15% international right now.
So we've, we've grown on the international side, and and we appreciate the, you know, the interest in in us from the international market, if you will.
Yeah.
And if if I may say, like, that's that's really great news, both about funding, but also about, having a diverse demographic of students because in working with a lot of international students myself, I have and even working with international but to give an example, so I worked with a, with with a priest, who was from, an African country, and we were having a lot of problems.
His English was perfect.
We're having a lot of problems in therapy.
I was like, what is going on?
And I discovered in in just talking with him that his native language doesn't have words or emotions.
And so he didn't have an intuitive sense of what I meant if I said, like, anxiety or depression, the way that, like, an American would just kind of know what that means.
And, like, he intellectually understood the word, but it didn't didn't correspond with the physiological or or psychological sensation.
And so, it's important to to be exposed to other cultures and so that you can start to identify have a the ability to identify when there's, like, something off like that where where you just you're you're not you're you're not seeing eye to eye, not because no not because somebody's not participating, but just because, you have a different world.
So I think that's great that there's a lot of internationals because that's, helps expand the view for everyone else.
I I think you nailed it right there.
It's it helps everybody's views, both ways.
As you said, you know, the international students are presented with things that may not be natural to their culture and and help may help them in their in their, therapy, work.
If you had to give, you know, incoming students any advice on studying tactics, what do you think they would be?
Or would you besides study a lot?
Yeah.
Definitely study a lot.
I would say, you know and this is something I I find myself saying all the time because I'm currently working with students is that, in every university, every, program, every professor thinks that their their course is the most important, and they seem to forget the fact that you're taking other courses too.
So you're not gonna be able to do everything.
There's something that you are gonna have to say, like, okay.
I can't read a 100 pages.
I don't ever remember actually getting a 100 pages for one the one class, but you have to give yourself a little grace.
So study hard, find what works for you, expand your resources.
There's no no need to just stick with like, not everyone learns best by reading.
So, I know, a a guy that was in my cohort, he learned better listening.
So he got books in PDF, and there's a way on Adobe that you can have it read read to you.
And that one really worked worked really well for you.
So, you know, think outside the box.
Remember that you're not gonna be able to do everything, and give yourself some grace, but definitely still try.
So and and that that's really great advice.
I have couple other questions, and I'm hoping now that we we've been talking that stirs some other questions.
I know we have one to answer in a second, but, off time.
You were in Crystal City back then.
Did you get to explore, like, you know, Washington DC?
Did you get to the mountains at all over in Northern Virginia, West Virginia?
What'd you do for some fun activities around here?
I will say I had an absolute blast in grad school.
I had a a great cohort, and there's still some of their best friends.
And, we, you know, we would, you know, go out on the weekends, you know, go to to clubs or bars or, hiking.
Not not so much hiking because, I think where you're at, where you're located now, it'd be easier to get out to the mountains.
But we did do some hiking.
And being Crystal City was a lot closer to the ocean.
So we were able to, you know, go to, you know, to the beach.
But being in Washington is a really, really incredible experience.
There the Smithsonian museums are there, and it's really easy to when you're living somewhere to say, like, I'll get there eventually.
But when you're it's new, you know, you're more likely to go.
And and so, you know, friends would go to to museums.
We would go and there there's always, like, events.
So I think in May, there there's a what it's called.
Maybe it's the parade of nations or something.
But, around May, all of the embassies along, in Embassy Row in Washington will open, and you go and you can go from embassy to embassy and experience what the what their native cultures are like.
And things like that are really, really cool.
Also, being in, you know, the heart of American politics, which can be kind of annoying at times, but, you know, it's it's in the air.
You get to know so many people from so many different places, and it's a it's a Washington tends to be a bit of a transient area because so many people are coming in for work.
And so and, inevitably, they leave, and so then you start having friends all over the country, sometimes all over the world, depending.
So there's just always something to do and which is really nice.
I when I was in grad school, I was an avid couch surfer, which if you don't know what that is, it's basically, a a program.
It was a website, and they became an app called Couchsurfing where you can host people in your home from all over the world or all over the country, and you can stay places.
And I've had the good fortune of being able to stay in several places around the world as well as other places in The United States.
And that allow also allowed me to, like, learn a lot about DC and about all the stuff going on because I was giving people tours.
That's something I really enjoyed.
So there's just so much to do.
And yet, you know, being a little bit removed now from, like, from the district itself provides peace and fire too.
So so it's not like it's not like you you have to be overwhelmed by all of these things going on.
You can definitely find find your own niche.
So if you're if you're more interested in being in in, like, the heart of things, probably living closer to DC is gonna make that easier.
If you want something quieter, being farther away or, and I there there tended to be when when I was in the program, there tended to be, like, Catholic houses.
So, like, I lived in the same place the entire time I was in grad school, and we had people rotating in and out over those four years, other guy other Catholic guys.
And, there's a I believe it's still active.
There's a Facebook page called, DC area Catholics looking for roommates.
So, and the Catholic I should also say, the the Catholic culture is extremely vibrant, which is really nice.
And, of course, being near, like, you know, the Salok Of Lemakre Conception and, you know, all of these really beautiful churches and so many different expressions of the Catholic faith, it it really makes there's something for everyone.
I I appreciate that.
And I think to your point, in when DMU was at Crystal City, much of the activity was down there.
But being out near, in Sterling near Dulles Airport where we're at now, we're pretty much equally distant to Washington DC.
It's less than an hour.
I live in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, actually, which is a very historical area, which is less than an hour.
It's absolutely beautiful, by the way.
I'm jealous.
I mean so you can you can go out river rafting, hiking, camping, all those things, or or as doctor Russell says, you can be, an avid museum goer and, you know, the the just the sheer, you know, volume of things to do in the in the city in in Washington DC is is tremendous, both from historical and and cultural.
And then as you mentioned, if you wanna celebrate your faith, there's tons and tons of, there's three diocese all kind of almost interconnected.
Baltimore, Washington DC, and the diocese of diocese of Arlington, which is where we belong.
So you can visit as many churches as you want.
You can, you see some of the rather ornate ones, some of the oldest ones in the country.
There's so there's as you said, there's just a ton of things to do outside of of school.
Something you mentioned, though, your cohort, you said that you still you guys are still a lot of you are still good friends and, keep up with each other and stuff.
I mean, you haven't been out of school that long.
So you know?
But is that something you feel that you benefited from as well, just the the the the camaraderie and the friendships you made while you were at DMU?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I would say my closest friends in all the world, with a couple exceptions, are my are members of my were members of my cohort.
Just really, really phenomenal people who are you know, the being, you know, solid Catholics and and being interested in philosophy, at least to some extent and, also studying psychology allowed us to have, like, really deep connections.
And, you know, you you you gravitate towards some towards some more than others.
Of course, that's how it always is.
But I'm deeply grateful, for those connections.
In fact, just two weeks ago, I was visiting my best friend in Mon on my in Montana who works at the university of or Montana State University, doing the same thing I do, just in a different place.
And so, it it's just just a phenomenal group of people.
And we we we do know the benefit of not only the the cohort, peer relationship, but the university connection, you know, you know, if you will.
DMU started a a, alumni association.
We kinda had a loose one over the years, but we formalized that over the last several years.
And, I'm not sure if you remember yet or not, but, it's a pretty vibrant association.
Yes.
I'm actually on the, the board for the alumni association.
So I'm quite where I'm at with my knowledge of the of the board.
That's alright.
So I I am on the board for the alumni association, and, it's just getting off the ground.
It's, like, a really solid, solid endeavor in the organization.
And, you know, we're looking at various different ways to keep people connected.
You know?
Because there of course, I have, like, my core group of friends that I see with the calls with.
None of the pea a lot of other people that, you know, I think about, and they come to mind, and I wonder how they're doing.
But it's, you know, not you just grow apart.
So, the alumni, you know, association will hopefully help, you know, put us back in touch and, just see what people are doing, how things are going.
But, also, we're looking at being able to provide things like and this isn't set in stone, but, looking at, providing, like, a continuing education.
And, you know, that would be valuable not only for alumni, but also for other people who want maybe have been have trained elsewhere, but want back the passing of integration.
That's great.
There is a question asking how long is the program and length of each course.
We are on a semester basis.
The program is basically five years in length, with a component after you graduate postdoc, where you will be on campus for about four years, and then you spend your fifth year out while you're working on your dissertation.
And then, you know, after you receive your diploma, you still have some more work to do, especially as it relates to whatever state you may go back to or be, from and wanna practice.
Sometimes state requirements require something that is a little bit different than than what we would normally put out there.
Has that been the case for you, doctor Russell?
Did you have to take any other additional hours or training?
Yeah.
So just one word.
Take it from someone.
Like, I kept hearing people say this, but I wish I would have taken it to heart.
Do not wait to till your internship to do your dissertation because you're gonna I did that, and I regretted it.
Because after working the whole day, you don't wanna come home and start working more, because you're working forty hours a week on internship.
So I would not encourage you to wait till your fifth year to do your dissertation.
But having said that, yeah.
So for me, because, at the time, the PsyD program was not a direct admit program.
So I started in the master's program and graduated with with a master's in clinical psychology, which I don't think is offered anymore at all, and then then transitioned into the the doctoral program.
At the end of that, after after you know, I had the graduation, like, in May and then but I didn't actually graduate and get my diploma till August.
And then the I was I'm licensed in four jurisdictions, so North Carolina, the District Of Columbia, Maryland, and Ohio.
And, the first time, it's a little bit of a complicated endeavor because you have to, like, prove your hours and stuff, the the hours of training.
And so but after that, it gets it gets a little easier.
But each state requires that you do continuing education, credits or units, CE, CEUs.
And, each state is different.
For example, my first his first license in North Carolina, and it was a lot they were very, very strict about getting licensed, but they don't require that in continuing education credits.
Whereas in Maryland, it was quite easy to get licensed, but they require a lot of continuing education.
And so a continuing education, you know, could be as much as, like, a one hour thing like this, or it could be, you know, a more in-depth, training.
So you once you're done with school, you are never actually done training.
And, you know, some years you're gonna in most states, do a biannual, licensing.
So some years, you're gonna, like, be proactive and find trainings that you wanna do.
And other years, you might, you know, be scrambling at the end to just try and get it done.
I recommend that you find the things that you wanna do.
But so yeah.
Did I answer the question?
Yeah.
You absolutely did.
I I think for clarity purposes, I'd have to say that in in the old program that you were part of, as you mentioned, you actually were, admitted into the school as a master's degree student and then applied for and was chosen to continue on into the PsyD program.
Today, under under the direct admit PsyD program, for those that that don't know, you actually do earn your master's in clinical psychology along the way Okay.
Through your PsyD, but you're you're admitted into the full five year clinical PsyD PsyD program, and you do earn your clinical master's, along the way.
So you do earn two diplomas.
You actually get to walk twice too, which is a nice thing.
So I I hope I've asked or answered the questions that were laid out there.
I think, you know, in the time that you were here till now, DMU obviously has moved.
We've gone to a direct admit ID program.
But in terms of the quality of content, quality of instruction, and how you were able to go out into the world and use that, I don't know that that's changed a whole lot.
I think, you know, a lot of the many of the same professors are still here.
One thing you mentioned is, CEUs, continuing education units.
And, you know, some some years you're scrambling, some years you have that opportunity to look at and and take something that you want, to to really learn.
I think it's important for people to understand, and and maybe you can, you know, maybe back me up if I say it correctly.
I don't know that you could stay in school long enough to acquire all of the knowledge you would need to be a lifelong strong clinician because quite frankly, new things pop up, new therapy styles, and and, just things evolve.
The world, even when you graduate, is a little different now than it was back then.
You know, today, unfortunately, we have things like the pandemic.
We have international issues right now.
We have a number of things going on that trigger people.
You know?
We we have a trauma a Green Cross trauma program, out of the university now.
For those who don't know it, we had it then, but we also have a clinic here, where most students start their training.
They go through the IPS clinic first.
They see real patients.
They, you know, they're under supervision and those kind of things, and then they move out into the the real world as they say.
But, you know, there's a a value to continuing education, especially in a world of psychology because, again, the world's changing.
It's evolving, and, clinical therapies are changing.
You know, we're not all stuck on Freud anymore.
I don't mean that as a slight.
I'm just you know, you mentioned some therapies early on, that, you know, most people don't realize.
You know, we we doctor, Nordling is, you know, a experienced and renowned child play therapist.
He is incredible.
He is absolutely incredible.
He is I would say he's nearly a wizard.
Okay.
Alright.
We have a question on here.
As an undergraduate student from Canada, are there international funding grant applications which Canadian students have access to the financial need is a restriction to access to education.
I'll answer that by saying this.
First, Canada does have out of out of Canada funding opportunities.
Second, we have, several scholarships that you can compete for.
In addition, I mentioned a program earlier, memorandum of understandings that we actually have with, the Diocese of Saskatoon, Diocese of Calgary, and I wanna tell you one more up there.
So if you're in a parish of one of those diocese, you're actually already part of a tuition discounting program.
So I would check with them.
If you're not and you're on this call and you wanna see if you can get your parish or diocese involved, please reach out to myself or financial aid, and we'll be more than happy to to help you.
I literally sent out five today.
I've already gotten two back.
So it it's a it's a great way for students to get tuition reduction.
It's also a great way for places to to help their parishioners.
You know?
We have a lot of folks coming from all different areas, all different kinds of, you know, not just the church, but all kinds of other different organizations.
And, many of them appreciate the value that's being brought being brought back to them by way of an educated, clinician who can add value.
And then not just in this ID program.
This actually applies to all of our programs, including the spiritual direction certificate program.
So hopefully I answered that question.
I don't wanna sign off too quickly.
I wanna make sure everybody that's on here has a chance to ask a question.
If they haven't, we've been chatting.
I was trying to see if we can get some of your experience out there.
Really appreciate your time on the on the, the webinar here, doctor Russell, and all the all the things you've shared with us.
But before we go one more time, does anybody else have any other questions?
Definitely feel free to ask anything.
I don't know.
I'll say I don't.
Alright.
Well, we've been fairly proficient apparently, doctor Russell, because there's not not many have shown up there.
So Alright.
I do thank you for your your attendance here and and your sharing with us, doctor Russell.
We appreciate it.
And, I appreciate everybody that's been on the on the webinar, and I I look forward to talking to you folks, or Steve Showalter talking to you in the near future.
And, thank you all, and have a good night.
Take care.
Bye bye.
Bye now.