Aline Holzwarth, MBA, is an applied behavioral scientist specializing in digital health research and scientifically informed product design. She is currently the head of behavioral science at Pattern Health and Principal at Dan Ariely's Center for Advanced Hindsight. She writes, "my training in psychology and business, and my experience in research and healthcare, have given her the kind of interdisciplinary lens that helps me appreciate the complexity of decision-making in the real world, particularly when it comes to the thorny domain of health. I am passionate about sharing behavioral insights with anyone who'll listen." See her website here.

Resources:

• Behavioral Science Graduate Guide
• Action Design Network
• Habit Weekly

During this live interview (want to attend future ones? Sign up here), we cover:

1. What is behavioral science?
2. What is the “applied” piece?
3. The value of dabbling
4. Why didn’t you get a PhD?
5. Why did you get an MBA?
6. If you lack experience in behavioral science: how do you start acquiring relevant experiences?
7. What kinds of research experiences are applicable to behavioral science roles?
8. When did you own the title of behavioral scientist?
9. Examples of behavioral science in digital health
10. The future of behavioral science
11. The paradox that ALL (or at least most) jobs require experience
12. Entry-level job titles in behavioral science
13. Where to network with behavioral scientists
14. How do priorities of industry (e.g., profit, efficiency) impact your work?
15. Advice for switching fields
16. What piece of advice would you give your undergrad self?
17. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

Access Psychology Foundation is a nonprofit that works to increase inclusion, equity, and diversity in the field of mental health by providing historically underrepresented communities with access to evidence-based prevention and treatment, and by training the next generation of racially diverse mental health providers.

APF offers scholarships and grants to high school students, college students, graduate students, licensed professionals, schools, and organizations from historically underrepresented communities to help them:

1. gain exposure to the field of evidence-based clinical psychology
2. access high quality training and consultation in evidence-based treatments, and
3. access high quality training in working with clients of diverse backgrounds.

APF also offers scholarships and grants to people from historically underrepresented populations so they can obtain quality, evidence-based mental health treatment. Evidence-based treatments are those subjected to rigorous research trials demonstrating their effectiveness.

This episode is a conversation with APF co-founder, Alec Miller, PsyD, and APF Executive Director, Damian Travier.

TO FIND OUT MORE:

• The APF website is still under construction, but to find out more information about the opportunities discussed, you can reach out to Damian Travier at dtravier@access-psychology.com and mention that Psych Mic sent you!
• Listen to the Psych Mic interview with Dr. Alec Miller to learn about his career path in clinical psychology here.

We cover:

• how APF was founded
• why this nonprofit is so needed
• the nature of the mental health crisis in communities of color
• how APF is working to address the racial gap in mental health treatment and training
• and how you can get involved

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

Amy Elliott, PhD, Chief Clinical Research Officer at Avera Research Institute, leads a research team focused on improving child health and development through community-based research. Dr. Elliott is the principal investigator on several National Institutes of Health (NIH) research projects including the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Study, an initiative to reduce infant mortality in American Indian communities. Dr. Elliott also holds professor and research positions at The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine.

Education:

• PhD from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Clinical Psychology
• MA from North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, Clinical Psychology
• BA from Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minnesota, Psychology

Topics we cover:

1. If there was one thing you wish everybody knew about child development, what would it be?
2. Why did you go into clinical psychology instead of medicine?
3. Why did you get a master’s before your PhD?
4. If you loved research, why did you want to get licensed as a clinician?
5. How did you choose your PhD program?
6. What was your grad school research on?
7. Having a baby in grad school - unique benefits & challenges
8. Why did you want to work with children?
9. What did your training look like in graduate school?
10. What was the most valuable part of your PhD?
11. Advice for students interested in Amy’s line of work
12. What does a pre-doctoral internship in behavioral pediatrics and genetics look like?
13. Working on interdisciplinary teams
14. When and why did you transition away from clinical work and into full-time research?
15. “What got you here won’t get you there”
16. Amy’s role at Avera Research Institute: Research & findings, leading a team, day in the life
17. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

Jill Stoddard, PhD, is the director of The Center for Stress and Anxiety Management in San Diego. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from Boston University where she trained at the renowned Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders; it was there that her passion for treating anxiety using evidence based methods took root. Dr. Stoddard specializes in the treatment of anxiety and related disorders and has expertise in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She is an award winning teacher, peer-reviewed ACT trainer, author, and co-host of the popular Psychologists Off The Clock podcast. She’s written 2 books based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Big Book of ACT Metaphors: A Practitioner’s Guide to Experiential Exercises and Metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Be Mighty: A Woman’s Guide to Liberation from Anxiety, Worry, and Stress Using Mindfulness and Acceptance. When she’s not writing, counseling her fierce clients, speaking, or podcasting, she’s spending time with her amazing family, friends, and dogs, and feeling grateful for her mighty life. To learn from Dr. Stoddard, visit her website at https://www.jillstoddard.com/ and follow her on Twitter (@jill_stoddard), Instagram (@jillastoddard), and Facebook/LinkedIn.

Topics we cover:

1. Why clinical psychology?
2. How do you know you’re suited for clinical work?
3. What do you wish you knew as an undergrad in psychology?
4. What makes you want to mentor someone? How do I ask for someone’s time? How to I prove I’m worth it? How can I be a good mentee?
5. Why did you do a master’s in clinical psychology before your PhD?
6. What was the most valuable part of your MA program?
7. Jill’s first clinical experience & the goosebumps that proceeded
8. Imposter feelings & getting into grad school - what did it feel like?
9. Imposter “subtypes”
10. How does imposter syndrome still show up for you?
11. What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? Where can people learn more?
12. Why did you go into anxiety?
13. What appealed to you about being a private practitioner and owning a clinic?
14. Financial stability in private practice & being a business owner
15. Salaries throughout Jill’s career
16. What still gives you chills?
17. Jill’s upcoming book on imposter syndrome
18. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Resources mentioned:

• POTC episode with David Smith, about how men can be allies to women in the workplace
• Jill’s Ted talk
• Jill’s website
• The Big Book of ACT Metaphors
• Be Mighty

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities. Follow @psych_mic on Instagram! Music by: Adam Fine

Tim Davis, PhD, is associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Director of Leadership Coaching for BattenX, the executive training program. A clinical psychologist, Tim helps students, executives and teams achieve more by building resiliency, community and self-awareness. At Batten, he teaches courses on team leadership, group dynamics and emotional resilience.

Davis’s leadership courses at Batten emphasize practical, experiential learning to build self-awareness. His students form teams to experiment with using different approaches to solving problems they experience as team members and leaders. His resilience-focused courses use the transition to and from college as a place for students to learn emotional resilience skills, life management skills, and foundational leadership skills that will help them deal with setbacks and career changes.

Prior to joining Batten, Davis served as the Executive Director for Resilience & Leadership Development at the University of Virginia. He also previously served as the Director of the UVA Center for Counseling & Psychological Services and as Director of Clinical Services at the University of Michigan Counseling & Psychological Services Department.

Education:

• Executive Coaching Certification from Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.
• PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park
• MA in counseling psychology from Arizona State University.
• BA in journalism & history from Indiana University

Topics we cover:

1. The bathtub epiphany moment that led Tim to psychology
2. Why Tim wanted to help people as a therapist
3. Getting rejected from “safeties” but accepted to the #1 counseling psych program
4. Tim’s attitude toward research in grad school
5. Choosing a clinical path after grad school
6. Why Tim got training in more severe psychopathology
7. What Tim learned about college student mental health after working at 4 separate university counseling centers
8. The adolescent brain
9. The crisis of college mental health centers
10. Why Tim stepped away from his clinical positions
11. What piqued Tim’s interest in leadership and resilience?
12. How Tim fosters leadership, resilience, and emotional wellbeing for thousands at UVA through his courses
13. How are leadership and resilience related?
14. Can everyone be a leader?
15. What is Tim’s definition of leadership?
16. How is Tim’s clinical background still serving him?
17. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

In this episode, I interview Daisy Ort, a 4th-year clinical psychology PhD candidate, and her doctoral advisor, Dr. Barry Farber, about the graduate school application process. We focus mainly on clinical doctoral programs (particularly PhD), but also touch on other routes (e.g., PsyD, MSW, MFT, LMHC). This is Part II of a two-part series. In Part I, we covered preparation: what do you need to do before it actually comes time to apply? In Part II today, we will cover the actual application — the process and its materials.

Our guests:

Daisy is currently a 4th year clinical psychology PhD student at Teachers College, Columbia University. Besides having gone through the process herself, Daisy has helped countless students through every stage of the grad school process.

Dr. Barry Farber has been on doctoral admissions committees at TC for over 40 years. He reviews hundreds of applications every single year and really understands what makes for a successful application. He was also the Director of Clinical Training for 25 years.

To read more about Daisy and Barry, go to their lab website here.

Resources mentioned in last week's and this week's episode:

• Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology
• Psych Mic Grad School Panel
• Magoosh test prep
• Kaplan test prep

Topics we cover (see chapter markers to click time stamps)

• 00:00:00: Intro
• 00:04:52: Some questions covered today
• 00:06:33: How to compile your list of schools
• 00:09:46: How picky can you be?
• 00:12:27: Turning down an offer… to do or not?
• 00:16:27: When will I know if faculty are accepting students?
• 00:17:15: Sending emails to potential advisors
• 00:21:15: Lessening the financial burden of applying
• 00:23:39: How many schools to apply to?
• 00:25:53: CV—Communicating your readiness
• 00:28:27: Personal statements—standing out
• 00:41:17: GRE
• 00:47:30: Letters of Recommendation
• 00:50:51: Embellishing your interest in research?
• 00:54:41: Grades & GPA
• 00:57:34: Assessing program/faculty fit
• 01:01:54: Final words of hope & comfort

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

In this episode, I interview Daisy Ort, a 4th-year clinical psychology PhD candidate, and her doctoral advisor, Dr. Barry Farber, about the graduate school application process. We focus mainly on clinical doctoral programs, but also touch on other routes (e.g., PsyD, MSW, MFT, LMHC). This is Part I of a two-part series. In Part I, we'll be covering preparation: what do you need to do before it actually comes time to apply? In Part II, which is being released next week, we will cover the actual application.

Our guests:

Daisy is currently a 4th year clinical psychology PhD student at Teachers College, Columbia University. Besides having gone through the process herself, Daisy has helped countless students through every stage of the grad school process.

Dr. Barry Farber has been on doctoral admissions committees at TC for over 40 years. He reviews hundreds of applications every single year and really understands what makes for a successful application. He was also the Director of Clinical Training for 25 years.

To read more about Daisy and Barry, go to their lab website here.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology
• Psych Mic Grad School Panel

Topics we cover (see chapter markers to click time stamps)

Overview

• 00:08:36: Overview of PhD vs. PsyD vs. MSW vs. MFT
• 00:13:22: Clinical vs. Counseling
• 00:14:58: MSW vs. Doctorate
• 00:16:10: Are school rankings important?
• 00:17:09: Why you should have this book: Insider’s Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology
• 00:19:03: Career outlook differences (MA vs. Doc)

Preparing

• 00:23:24: When to start preparing
• 00:25:33: How much experience is needed before you’re “ready”
• 00:28:41: How to find faculty members in your research areas of interest
• 00:30:00: The important components of your application to prepare for ahead of time
• 00:31:17: GRE (part I)
• 00:34:06: What can I do while still in college to become competitive?
• 00:38:09: Research vs. clinical experience - both equally important?
• 00:39:48: Clinical experience: why, when, and where?
• 00:43:47: What kinds of research experiences are most valuable?
• 00:45:52: Important skills to learn as an RA
• 00:47:37: Are you only competitive if you’ve published?
• 00:49:37: When is a master’s helpful?
• 00:54:03: How do you find clinical experiences without a license?
• 00:57:11: Does type of clinical experience matter?
• 00:58:10: What makes applicants stand out?
• 01:02:42: What parts of Daisy’s application stood out?
• 1:05:43: Steps to find a faculty advisor

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine

Wendy A. Suzuki, PhD, is a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University.

She received her undergraduate degree in physiology and human anatomy at the University of California, Berkeley in 1987 studying with Prof. Marian C. Diamond, a leader in the field of brain plasticity. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from U.C. San Diego in 1993 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health before accepting her faculty position at New York University in 1998.

Her major research interest continues to be brain plasticity. She is best known for her extensive work studying areas in the brain critical for our ability to form and retain new long-term memories. More recently her work has focused on understanding how aerobic exercise can be used to improve learning, memory and higher cognitive abilities in humans. Wendy is passionate about teaching (see her courses), about exercise (intenSati), and about supporting and mentoring up and coming scientists. See more on Wendy's website.

Wendy's TEDx Talk (#2 most popular talk in 2018)
Wendy's books:

• Healthy Brain, Happy Life
• Good Anxiety

Topics we cover:

1. What was the moment you realized you wanted to become a neuroscientist?
2. What is it like to study something no one has really studied before?
3. What is something you wish somebody told you before you started graduate school?
4. How do you see your work in science as being creative?
5. What was it like to start your own lab? What do you wish you had known?
6. How has your leadership style evolved? (What works better now than what you had been trying)
7. How did you choose your research areas, after grad school?
8. What challenges did you face as you made a research switch (from neurophysiology to exercise)
9. How does meditation make you a better scientist?
10. What made you want to get involved in activities that don’t involve lab research (e.g., public speaking, book writing, entrepreneurship)
11. How did you build up your skill of public speaking? And how has public speaking opened doors for you?
12. Wendy’s business: BrainBody, Inc
13. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went in life?

Visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox! Follow @psych_mic on Instagram to submit questions for speakers and stay in the loop.

Music by: Adam Fine