MFP had come to our university. I'd never heard of MFP, didn't know what MFP was
They needed a volunteer to share a little bit about their research
and I said, "Hey I'll go!" And I got to do about a five or seven minute snippet
and I'm introduced to this entire world of minority fellows. It was the first
time I'd seen an African American female PsyD. In that room. And I was
already a second year doctoral student and it blew my mind because I was like
"Oh so we do exist! Like, I have to meet her. I have to meet him and who is that?" Like
it was just this "Where -y'all are together in this group! What is this group? I need to be a part of this group!"
I feel like my identity as a future Latina psychologist has
become stronger in being mentored by so many individuals
that are passionate about serving marginalized communities.
When I go back home I just feel very empowered and I feel like -like I'm not alone
in this strong desire that I have of serving others.
Coming here and learning about issues,
current issues that are facing ethnic racial minorities
and how it affects their mental health.
And so I'm being trained on cutting-edge
evidence-based practices
but more importantly I'm actually able to take
that information back to people that are in my program.
I really feel rejuvenated here. Like I get inspired
and I get ideas about how I can work with my clients
better how I can craft my research in more meaningful ways.
I think that I've gotten what I wanted
from this and every session that I go to I end up getting
something that I didn't even know that I needed.
I think we all as Training Advisory Committee members
try to provide trainings that maybe
we wish we had had.
So, real talk about entering things
as an early career psychologist
of perhaps an underrepresented group
and what to expect and how to negotiate
and just a lot of the practical parts
that may not be a part of formal training.
But I feel like I'm coming full circle
because I was mentored myself
and to be able to kind of bring back some of what I gained
in the experience has been
such a fulfilling experience for me.
When I've had the opportunity to speak to my mentor it's been a really
grounding experience that's kind of helped me realize what I came into the
field for and which was to help people and to help people within a specific
population.
And so a lot of times when I'm caught up with
deadlines and trying to make
the, you know, meet the next expectation.
When I have a chance to talk
to my mentor, he's
very good about focusing
me back on "Why are you here?
What's the work that you want to do?"
I am excited about PSI
in the sense that now
I have kind of turned this leaf in my program
I've completed all my coursework
I've -I've defended, you know. I'm kind of at this last leg.
So I'm really excited
to learn more about early career,
you know, what's next? I'm getting this
question quite often: "What are you gonna do when you finish?"
and I'm like "I don't know!"
But I know PSI's going to help me figure that out.
So I'm really excited
for PSI to kind of put me
in that next phase and that next step to prepare
me for when I cross the stage and become Doctor Aisha
What -what happens and
and how do I get there?
And PSI's gonna set me up for that
so I'm extremely excited!
When I came to this -to this journey
to become a clinical psychologist
it wasn't like on a passing fancy
I really wanted to do something
to help people. And so you know
I just feel incredibly honored. I feel
really, really honored.
If I if I could
say anything, like, this is
only like, lit the fire in me even more!
So, yeah.