Join Cadie, Emma, and this episode's guest, Donesha George, as they discuss the ins-and-outs of psychology, mental health support, and crying in therapy.
EMMA:
Hello, welcome to CHSS Connection, a podcast where we interview different students about all things CHSS, from academics to careers to everything in between. This is a student success podcast for CHSS students by CHSSstudents. However, if you're not a CHSS student, welcome.
We're so glad you're here. I'm Emma Howard.
CADIE:
I'm Cadie Junker.
BOTH:
And we're your hosts.
CADIE:
In this episode, we're discussing CHSS’ psychology program. Of course, we could not do this alone.
So we are joined today by Donesha George. Donesha, thank you so much for joining us. How are you doing?
DONESHA:
Of course, thank you for having me. I'm actually doing good today.
CADIE:
Good, good. I'm so happy to hear that.
We're going to go ahead and get into the first part of our interview. These are going to be more general questions that really are supposed to give our listeners a pretty good overview of the psych program, of course, drawing from your own experiences. Very first question for you, the classic.
What is your class and major?
DONESHA:
Yes. So I am a clinical psychology major. I changed that over the summer and I just found out I was a senior not too long ago, so, shout out to me.
CADIE:
Ooooo.
DONESHA:
Yes, I am a senior, so I will be graduating in December 26th of fall.
CADIE:
Very cool.
EMMA:
Very exciting. Congratulations.
DONESHA:
Thank you.
EMMA:
So tell us about your experience in the psychology program.
DONESHA:
My experience here at Mason honestly has been the best because I was a transfer student from a college in Harrisburg, Virginia, and our psych department was very small. It was about 10 students in the department for psychology.
CADIE & EMMA:
Whoa.
DONESHA:
Right. So, coming here was very different for me. I was able to learn a lot of new things. I had a lot of hands on experience.
My favorite class I’ve taken here was therapeutic communication psychology. I learned a lot: how to communicate, how to be there for people, especially in the psychology realm. So more of like being there emotionally for them.
I feel like taking that class has changed a lot for me. So yeah, psychology here was the best.
I had opportunities to work in different places like clinical spaces. I got my certificate as a mental health aide.
So yeah, psychology in this department has, I would say, opened up many doors for me to prove that psychology is more than just, you know, if I think, oh, you are able to read someone's mind. It's more than that.
It's more just actually being, to me, I say as being an advocate for someone who struggles in mental health.
CADIE:
Yeah, for sure. That sounds like it was such a valuable experience, you know, switching over from a school with very few psych majors to a school where in the CHSS College, psychology is our biggest program here.
Kind of on that, what drew you to major in psychology?
DONESHA:
Honestly, I always had a heart for people. I love communicating, right? I love listening. And those two together, I was like, hey, why not psychology?
It's funny because my first psych class was in high school. It was AP psychology, and I struggled. It was so bad. I was like, too many terms, too many definitions. It was too much going on, but something really drawed me.
And I think it was just understanding, when I was an athlete, and knowing that a lot of us had dealt with mental health as a team, and not having people to really correctly understand what it's like to be an athlete and have mental health issues, and to not have anyone there to talk to you. So I felt like psychology would be a great fit for me.
And I trust myself, even though I didn't have the best experience with my psych class, I knew just giving myself a chance to take a psych course again in college would definitely be better than my psych course that I had taken in high school.
EMMA:
As someone who also took AP psych, I really liked it, but I commiserate with you on the amount of just terms and busy work. Yeah, totally get that.
CADIE:
I did not take AP psych. I took a psych class over at a dual credit college, and I wish I'd taken AP psych instead because my professor, this is like one of the first college classes I ever took, by the way. I was still in high school, and my professor was a guy who showed up with a stained shirt. I never saw him in an unstained shirt. And I think I learned more about his familial drama than I did about psychology that year, because what he would try to do is he would try to teach us these concepts by relating it to his own life.
But he would mention the concept very briefly and then go into a whole spiel about how like his brother is afraid of dogs or something like that.
EMMA:
So he made his family like the case study for the class?
CADIE:
Yeah, essentially.
EMMA:
Donesha, can you tell us a bit about your concentration? Do you have a concentration? Did you say that? Am I making that up?
DONESHA:
Clinical psychology.
EMMA:
Okay, great.
DONESHA:
I mean, what can I say? I just added it this summer. I'm excited, like, very excited for it because I feel like clinical psychology is definitely going to give me much exposure in the clinical aspect versus when I was just a psych student.
Well, psych major, it was just mostly focused on, I would say, again, like the therapeutic communication being more a field of therapy, right? Clinical, same thing, but you get to see how they take their notes. You get to see how they diagnose their patients. And that's something I'm definitely looking for with clinical psychology. So yeah.
EMMA:
What is something about your concentration that people may find surprising? I know you only
just got to it this summer, but what's already sticking out to you?
DONESHA:
It's definitely the diagnosing part. I did not know as clinical psychology you had the opportunity to, well, just like a clinical psychologist, you have the opportunity to diagnose a client.
I'm thinking it's just the same thing. You sit down, you talk with your patient and you just have that conversation, but you actually get to say, “Oh, this is what I want. This is what I want to diagnose this patient with.”
And I feel like for me, that was like, yes, I definitely want to do this.
CADIE:
Can you tell us a little bit about the core classes that you've taken for psychology? I'm not entirely sure how it works for the program, but I know for COMM you have your core major courses, and then you have your concentration core, and then your concentration elective, and then your major electives. Specifically looking at that major core, what is that like for psych students?
DONESHA:
Yeah, I love how psychology is very broad because the core classes help students to figure out what path of psychology they want to take.
The first basics is, well, there's two of them. There's Introduction to Psychology, which came to my mind, and Developmental. Introduction is basically the creator of psychology, right? You have the theories and different, you know, people who came up with those theories.
Don't make me quote any names because I cannot remember, but that's mostly the classes that people had told me that's boring, but I kind of liked it. It helped me understand, oh yeah, psychology is a great thing. So yeah, you have Introduction.
Developmental basically hops right into the lifespan of a human. Adolescence, adulthood was also my favorite one to understand the nature versus nurture. That was my favorite theory.
So those two are definitely the basics for psychology. I was, I would count Social Psychology as the core as well, but that can also be an elective here at Mason, which I didn't know.
Cognitive Psychology was more focused of different techniques of the brain. So, like your memory, your focus, different type of diseases of the brain. I like to pair Cognitive with Neuropsychology.
Neuropsychology is mostly focused on the brain, but different parts of the brain. So you get to understand the structure. I would say if you're very big on anatomy, then you might consider Neuropsychology.
But for me, I felt like it was too much focused on the brain and not really understanding what this had to do with, you know, me wanting to be in therapy. Well, of course you get to understand the parts, so it's helping you to better understand the person, but the lab part was a bit too much, you know, looking at different random parts of a sheet. It was just a lot for it to be Neuropsychology, right?
Social Psychology was good. It was mostly the broader part of understanding why people behave the way they do.
I think that was the whole summary part of Social Psychology, nothing really big about it. Trying to think if there's anything else.
Therapeutic communication, that wasn't a core, it was more like an elective that teaches you therapy, basically.
You was the client or you was the therapist. Very fun class. I enjoyed myself. It could be a little bit nerve-wracking because it's your very first time and the professor's like, okay, I need someone to be a client, need someone to be a therapist, and now you're sitting there and asking people questions about their life. So, it was very nerve-wracking, but at the end of the day, like, I really enjoyed myself.
So, it was just a lot of different cores and electives.
EMMA:
Yeah, I mean, I think you covered a really wide scope, and it certainly sounds like the core classes offer a really excellent trial run of sorts or taste testing, palate, appetizer, whatever, of the psych program. But yeah, sounds like you've taken a lot of a lot of classes.
Going more into that, which professors do you recommend other psychology students take?
DONESHA:
I would say I haven't had any bad professors here at Mason, so that's a good thing. I really can't say a name on top of my head.
EMMA:
Okay.
DONESHA:
But I would say it's all how you make the class to be, right? Because again, there are bad professors, but some of them you really just have to grow with. And so far, my psych class here, all of them has been online. So I really haven't had that personal connection besides the Therapeutic Communication psych core, I mean, psych class.
And even with her, she was the best teacher. I just don't remember her name.
EMMA:
Oh, that's okay.
DONESHA:
Yeah.
CADIE:
That's so real, actually. Going back to your classes, what is the best class that you've ever taken within the psych program?
DONESHA:
I would say therapeutic communication.
EMMA:
Yeah.
DONESHA:
That's not only because that was my only class in person. Research methods I haven't taken yet.
But there's another thing, Data Analysis. That was another psych core class. It was fun, but it wasn't my best.
And like Introduction in psych and other psych courses that I mentioned, I didn't really take here. I took my other school. So Therapeutic was my first class I've taken here at Mason, and I was in person, and it was the best.
I liked how it was hands on. As soon as you got in there, we was already working. I was the therapist or I was the client.
It was helpful to understand what it's like to be a therapist, what it's like to be a client. It was also helpful to build connections. As me being a transfer student, I was able to walk out the class knowing that this is something I want to do for the rest of my life.
And I had people who also want to do the same thing as me. So it was definitely my best class.
EMMA:
That sounds really validating, to be quite honest.
And it sticks out for me that does the psychology program offer a lot of like online or asynchronous classes?
DONESHA:
Oh, yes. I want to say the farther you go up in your year, they will offer you a lot of asynchronous or online courses. But for me, I would say majority of my psych core classes was online.
EMMA:
I love online classes. The English department does not.
CADIE:
Really?
EMMA
No! Okay. There's a handful and a lot of them are like in like the lower levels or some maybe like 302 or 308. Sorry, this is not the English episode. But yeah, no.
Really wish they had more. Anyways, can you share a very memorable moment? I feel like it might be your therapy class.
But that's what I'm calling my head. But can you share a memorable moment from one of your
classes or a lesson that you have taken away from them?
DONESHA:
Yeah. So it was a first session to do their therapy, a client. This is Therapeutic Communication.
And I remember all of us just being so nervous, because the goal was for us not to put our life problems out in the air, we had to pretend to be someone else. So, we could be a family member, we could be a friend, we could be anyone who we wanted.
So, I remember, because recently in my past years, I did like acting and playing. So, I act as someone in my family. And I remember the girl who was my therapist, I caught her off guard because I started to cry.
She just froze and looked at me. And I was like, “Aren’t you supposed to be my therapist?”
And I just remember just like, she tried not to laugh. And she started laughing.
I was like, “Are you my therapist?” And from there, I just realized like how fun the class could be. And I took away because after you know, we got done, we started talking, and she was like, I didn't know what to do. And it made me go back with my teacher.
Well, my professor, she was saying, you know, “It's the point of doing this not to be perfect, right? It's just to do it. Because no one is perfect.” Basically what she was trying to say. And for some reason, you know, because this was my major, I just wanted to feel like I had it all together.
But it was times where I would get a client, I had a friend and he hit me with a story that I really could not help him through.
And I was just like, this class can only be hard when you just want to feel like you got it. And my professor made it known that you're not gonna get it until you take this class and you leave from this class.
So yeah, those were the best memories.
EMMA:
That's a really good memory.
CADIE:
Well, I feel like that kind of shines a light on how important this class is too, because you're gonna have clients that cry in therapy, like that's probably actually gonna be a thing that you run into quite often.
You're going to hear a lot of very hard stories or stories that like, just make you want to go, what? And I'm so grateful that Mason kind of gives you the opportunity to show that on your face to be in those moments where I don't know what to do in a safer environment, so that way, when you are put in front of a real client, and they start crying, then you know, you're not laughing. Because I can only imagine.
DONESHA:
That happened before. That's the way I respond when I'm nervous. I just laugh.
CADIE:
But on the same note, what's the best story that you have involving your major?
DONESHA:
That's actually a good question. It makes me just think back. All the psych courses I've taken over the years as being a psychology major.
My best story about psychology, when I took the Developmental Case Study Psych, which was at my old school, we actually had to go out and be with kids. And I remember just being with this family and playing with the kids and everything. And I just felt like this was something for me.
And the mom, she was so sweet. She made sure that we was comfortable there being with her kids and being able to use what I learned in class made me felt like I was actually doing something right. And I felt confident as being a psych major, because a lot of times, you know, a lot of people think that it's just not the best major.
But me looking back at that moment with kids, I felt like it was everything to me. And it was the whole reason why I took psychology, because the daughter, she sat there and we had a whole conversation about her school, about her friends. And what she wanted to do. She had her life planned out before me. And she was like six.
So, to know that like, I'm just being, one, just being human, right.
But, two, just also listening and just hearing her out made me felt like there's other people who also need that. And yeah, I would say that was probably my best story. Just being around those kids just made everything to me.
It also made me switch my psych because for the longest I was a sports psychology, and I changed from sport to clinical. So yeah.
EMMA:
That sounds I mean, I know I keep saying this, but like, that just sounds really affirming and validating. And what a wonderful story, especially since it motivated you to change your concentration.
Continuing on, and looking into your journey in the psychology program. I know Cadie, and I have alluded to this. It's a really big program.
It's close to like taking up 50% of the students in CHSS. So they do, I'm sure that they do a lot of events. What's the best psychology event that you've been to?
DONESHA:
Well, probably, I'm gonna be honest, I didn't know we had a psychology event.
EMMA:
It's okay. It's okay.
DONESHA:
Now CHSS events is something different.
CHSS has a lot of great events. I've been to majority all of them. But the best one is the back to school event that they have in the front.
But psychology wise, I have not been to a psych event.
CADIE:
What about CHSS events? The back to school one?
DONESHA:
Oh, yes, that was my favorite. I like the tie-dye.
The food is always great. And I love the connection because you get to meet people that's part of chess and always end up being the same major as you. That always happens to me all the time.
EMMA:
Oh, well, I bet cuz there's 2000 psych majors. I'm curious if I mean, because I also don't know what events psychology does. But as a psych student, what's an event that you would like to see your department do?
DONESHA:
Something in the career field for psychology.
I had a talk with a student, and they was unsure about continuing psychology only because they felt like they couldn't get anywhere with their psych degree. And I hear a lot of students that talks about psychology like that saying, “I don't know where to go.” But for me, I love that psychology just has such a huge aspect to it, right? There's so many things and so many paths that you can take with psychology.
So if the psych department had an event, it would probably be event hosted to explain the career paths of psychology. Like there's so much that you can do with just a psych degree and, you know, just the things that comeswith it, right? You're helping people. You're making connections. You're not only just diagnosing, like you're doing more than that. If they held an event like that, I feel like a lot of people would probably would not want to change their major, but want to pursue it and actually have a desire to do something with it.
EMMA:
Certainly.
I feel like a lot of college students outside of the psych program also share that sentiment of wanting to learn more about what they could do with their major. And I'm going to take this quick moment to plug that CHSS also is going to have career and internship-focused episodes.
We're going to have one dedicated to psychology. So that'll be episode three. Please tune in.
CADIE:
Yeah. I'm so grateful you brought up the word connection when talking about the CHSS Back to School event.
EMMA:
Perfect segue.
CADIE:
Because our very next question for you is what connections have you made within the psych program?
DONESHA:
So far, connection wise, mostly with just like job wise connections.
I mean, I come across a lot of students and we're like, oh, we're both psych majors, but we haven't had that connection of like going past the stage of meet and greet with my job career base.
I'm an RBT, if I haven't mentioned it, but yeah, I'm a Registered Behavior Technician. That's also part of the ABA side of psychology, Applied Behavior Analysis.
And that was a great connection. The job is so great. I'm working with kids again, but this time it's kids on a spectrum, so with autism, but it's the best thing that ever happened to me working with them. I also was working in a clinic before for mental health. Again, I'm a mental health aide.
I got certified for that.
CADIE:
Oooo, very cool, very cool.
DONESHA:
So I'm able to use that. So there's so many connections job wise that is, it sounds little, but it's just like, man, I'm a mental health aide, so something would happen, I can really use the skills that I worked for over the summer to, you know, put it to reality. So yeah, I would say those are the connections so far I made.
I mean, I came across a lot of great people, professionals wise outside of school, but in the psychology major that also motivate me to do a lot with my degree. So yeah.
EMMA:
I will say, I think your accomplishments so far aren't small at all.
They sound very impressive and very useful.
CADIE:
I think that mental health support is so invaluable and so important in our world. I'm sure this is no news to you being a Clinical Psych major and concentration, but Gen Z, we do have disproportionately higher rates of depression and anxiety than previous generations, or at least reported rates because of the opinion that we're probably seeing higher reports because it has been less stigmatized, which is a good thing.
And I'm so grateful that Mason sets you up for success. So that way, you know, whether it's through the classes that you're taking through your Therapeutic Communications class or through the internships that you have, that you're getting this experience and you're able to help people, I just think that that is so cool that you're able to do that even before you graduate, because honestly, I think all of us need a little bit of help.
I'm of the opinion that everybody should go to therapy at some point in their lives.
DONESHA & EMMA:
Yes.
CADIE:
Whether or not you have some mental illness, just go.
Because you probably do have something that's weighing on you, something that's stressing you, something that you need advice in. That's just my little soapbox, as my mother so lovingly calls it though.
EMMA:
Just as Cadie says that therapy is a resource that everyone should use, what is one resource you think every psychology student should use?
DONESHA:
I would say a mentor because therapy is great and I tell people to use it, you know, use it all the time. But sometimes a lot of people have a hard time finding that right match and it takes longer than expected.
So having a mentor, those two are definitely not the same. You have someone like in therapy, someone is actually sitting down and talking to you and you come whenever you see them, right? Let's say you want to see them once a week, twice a week, who knows.
With a mentor, they're there all the time, 24-7. They help you career-wise, they help you, you know, mental-wise, they just help you with anything that you need help on. And I have a mentor and she's been great to me.
So for psych students, you know, who's probably taking therapy or not considering therapy, I would definitely consider mentorship.
EMMA:
I think some students might possibly struggle with finding like a mentor and differentiating that between a professor or an advisor. What tips do you recommend for students to locate a mentor that is right for them and maximize that resource?
DONESHA:
Yeah, of course.
So the first thing what helped me was understanding that a mentor, you know, they don't need special license, they don't need a special degree. You just need to be able to trust this person with your life, right?
You want to be able to know you can learn from this person because many times, mentors come in different ways. Someone might be a mentor, they might be younger than you, right? They might be a year younger than you, and you might be older than them. But because of what they're bringing to the table, they have so much wisdom, they know everything, they're able to help you out.
The second thing I would say is, you know, don't rush it because it takes time to find the right mentor. A lot of times you find someone, and you ask them to mentor you and they be like, well, it's just too much work.
That person is not a mentor, right?
When you go to someone, you ask them to be their mentor, the very first thing is ask, you know, oh my goodness, thank you because you're trusting them with your life, basically. And I feel like a mentor is just someone that you can really trust with everything because there's going to be moments you're going to have to be vulnerable.
Again, they're not therapists because you're going to be vulnerable with them, and they're going to be like, well, I recommend you to go to therapy, right? But they're just going to appreciate the fact that you chose them to help you and join you.
And the last thing, of course, you want to find someone who's kind of walking in the same shoes as you are, which again could be hard. That's why I say it's a long process to find the right person because you don't want to find someone who's in a completely other world and you're trying to, you know, have them mentor you. So you definitely want to find someone who's been in your shoes before, you know, they've been through college, they've been, they don't have to be through the same major, but they've been exposed to the same exact lifestyle you are currently walking in.
I feel like that's the best takeaway when it comes to finding a mentor.
EMMA:
Certainly. And I think that's the best way to close on act one.
So now we're going to go to our bulletin board where we're going to make some chess announcements, do some shout outs and share some resources.
CADIE:
We're also going to hear from Dr. Mike Hurley.
EMMA:
Correct.
TRANSITION MUSIC PLAYS
CADIE:
Don't skip this. This isn't an ad break.
EMMA:
This is the bulletin board.
In every episode, this is where we will announce upcoming events and opportunities in chess, hear from correspondents and give shout outs to the resources that make this podcast possible.
DR. HURLEY:
My name is Michael Hurley. I am an associate professor in the psychology department at George Mason.
My email address is m-h-u-r-l-e-y-2 at gmu.edu.
The psychology department is located in David King Hall on the second floor, the main floor of the building. The advising office is in room 2086 of David King Hall, and the faculty offices are mostly on the second floor, but there are additional faculty offices upstairs on the third floor.
In terms of a summary of the psychology program, we only have one major, which is psychology in our department, and we have several majors- excuse me, minors, and concentrations.
The minors that we have are in Brain, Body and Behavior, Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Health Psychology, Industrial Organizational Psychology, and then we have our General Psychology minor, which does not focus in on a specific area.
We also have concentrations and those concentrations are Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Health Psychology, Human Factors Psychology, and Work and Organizational Psychology.
Students can reach out to me by email or phone. Email messages for me should go to the Undergraduate Advising Office at UGPSYC at gmu.edu. That's UGPSYC, U-G-P-S-Y-C, at gmu.edu. The main phone number to the psychology department is 703-993-1384. So those are the best ways to reach me here in the department.
And then other things to know about our undergraduate program in psychology, or the psych department, is that we have several graduate programs. In addition to our undergraduate program, we have graduate programs in Clinical Psychology, Applied Developmental Psychology, Human Factors Psychology, Industrial Organizational Psychology, and Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience.
In the undergraduate program, oh, and by the way, in those graduate programs, the Clinical Psych program is only a Ph.D. program, but the other four programs all have both master's degree programs and Ph.D. programs.
And then at the undergraduate program, we have an honors, psychology Honors program, for students, particularly for students who are interested in graduate school. That program is a really great opportunity. And we also have a chapter of PSYCHI, the International Honor Society for Students in Psychology.
And we also, because of our graduate programs and our graduate students and faculty who do research, there are opportunities for undergraduates who would like to get research experience to be able to do that while they are working on their undergraduate degree in psychology.
EMMA:
The GMU Psychology Club is a student-run club open to all majors. It's a place to grow your knowledge of psychology while meeting others who share a similar passion for the field.
For more information, contact Dr. Mike Hurley or visit their Mason 360 page.
George Mason's Counseling and Psychological Services offers free, confidential mental health support to enrolled students, both in person and online. Whether you are seeking short-term counseling or need assistance in connecting to community providers, CAPS can help.
They are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 12.30 to 4.30 p.m. Stop by Sub 1, Suite 3129 or call 703-993-2380 to get started.
CADIE:
And welcome back. We are now going to enter into our Act 2, which is going to be a little bit deeper, nothing too serious, but these questions will draw even more from your thoughts, your motivations behind your experiences within the psychology program here at Mason.
And our very first question for you is kind of a two-in-one, but you have already sort of answered the first part.
DONESHA:
Okay!
CADIE:
Why did you choose psychology? And what was that experience of choosing your major like for you?
DONESHA:
Yeah, again, I chose psychology because of just my personality. Let's just go with that.
I just love surrounding myself by people. I love helping people and being there for people, especially when I was an athlete. Many times having that leadership role of supporting my teammates, talking to them when they need someone to talk to, really plays a role of the psych.
But I feel like psychology helped deepen my understanding with understanding the process of someone emotionally. Many times I was speaking to people, I wasn't emotionally there for them. With being a psych major now, I'm mostly there for people.
And I would say choosing a major, it wasn't hard. My very first time in college, I was a sports and rec and psychology as the minor. But I feel like understanding what I really, truly want to do with my psych was the hardest part.
Because again, there's so much that you can do with psychology. I feel like as long as I'm doing something with people, like helping them, talking to them, that's all that really matters. So, I wouldn't say it's like the reason why I gave up sports psychology, only because I wanted to be somewhere in the sports field.
I realized there was a lack with people being there for athletes in times that they need someone. So my focus is, oh, I want to be this person.
I'm really good for that. I see a problem, I'm automatically going to put myself as like a savior type aspect. Like, oh, I got to do this.
But I feel like as I got older and transitioned from the private school to public, and had my very first experience where I pretend I was a therapist and having clients every other day in class made me realize maybe I can get an athlete walk in into a center where I am a therapist for them.
So let me focus more on that aspect. And I think from there, that's where everything started to change for me for psychology.
EMMA:
For students who are maybe still grappling with what major they want to go in, what factors do you recommend that they maybe keep in mind? You talked about, well, what do you want to do? What industry do you see yourself in? That's a factor. Are there any others that you recommend that others keep in mind that you kept in mind?
DONESHA:
Oh, yeah. My private school, I had a professor who made us write a paper about having a passion and working in that passion for the rest of your life or just having a job and just wanting to make money from that job. And what made me take away from writing that paper was knowing that if I want to spend the rest of my life doing something, it has to be something I'm passionate in.
And that's what helped me make my decision for psychology and what I wanted to do in my major.
I'm very passionate with people, so my advice for people who's having a hard time looking for what they want to do in life as far as job and major-wise, just go after something you know you're passionate about, something that you're going to wake up and you're going to be glad you chose to stick with this job because many times we're working jobs and we're like, man, I got to go in here. But, you know, working somewhere that you know this is something that you want to do, like no questions pundit to it, like this is something that you really want to do.
So I feel like that's what's going to help you make that decision for that major, that decision for what you want to do when you get that major degree.
I feel like many times we overthink the process. I know me, I overthink this so much because I was so focused on everything else, X, Y, and Z. How am I going to do this? How am I going to pay this? But the real question is how am I going to stay in a job that I don't like, right? If I am pursuing something that deep down I know I don't want to pursue.
So my best advice is definitely finding that major or finding a field that when you are passionate to, it fits your personality. You can't be somewhere and you can't be yourself, right? You have to be able to be yourself in a field that authenticity is good. Nothing can change it because that's something you love to do.
CADIE:
I find it really fascinating that your reasoning for going into psychology and my reasoning for going into comms is actually very, very similar.
That like, humanity element of I love people, I love talking to people, I love listening to people. How do I study that?
So, I just think that's so cool that you can have the similar motivations and choose two completely different life paths. It really does boil down to like you're saying, what's a job that maybe you don't love every single day of the week, but a job that you can look at and genuinely be happy with and glad that you're doing.
EMMA:
Moving on, kind of coming back to George Mason itself and your transition here a little bit. I know you've talked about your experience at your previous school and it sounds like it's been very rewarding, but when you were finishing up there or when you were looking to, I know we've talked, sorry, Donesha and I have worked together in another position. I remember we had this conversation about, did you get your associates at Mary Washington or?
DONESHA:
No.
EMMA:
No, you left.
DONESHA:
I just left.
EMMA:
Okay.
DONESHA:
Yeah.
EMMA:
Why did you choose to come here at Mason versus another school to pursue psychology?
DONESHA:
Oh, well, my sister came here and I remember visiting the campus and how big it was and a lot of activities was going on. You see a lot of orgs on campus. So that was the first thing that caught my eye.
Then it was a little birdie seeing how the psychology department was the best department here at Mason. And I was very determined to like, yes, this is what I need. I need something to, you know, match my energy because that's how I am as a person with anything, I just need something to match me. And I feel like being at my psych department at my old school, pretty much wasn't matching it. Like it felt like more of like take the classes and graduate.
And I need something more, right? I need experience. I need shadowing. I just need something.
So hearing that Mason had a good psych department, I did my research and it looked really good. It looked great. And I trust my gut. I would say, you know, this is something I want to do.
It's going to be different going from a private to a public school. But I made it work and it was the best decision.
EMMA:
Sounds like it was.
DONESHA:
Yeah.
CADIE:
It sounds like part of the reason that you left your old school was for the variety of opportunities here at Mason that kind of goes away even from your traditional coursework.
On that note, have you done research, internships, clubs tied to clinical psychology? And if you have, what have those experiences looked like?
DONESHA:
Yeah. So, I've done a lot. I'm actually still doing research. This is tied in because though I'm a clinical psych, I'm also in the pre-med track.
CADIE:
Oh, very cool.
DONESHA:
Thank you.
So I had an opportunity to do research on holistic medicine for depression and anxiety. And I had a chance to present that at a medical school, UVA.
EMMA:
Oh, wow.
DONESHA:
Yeah. And because in psychology you learn to understand the difference between someone who has mental health issues and someone who's mentally ill, right?
CADIE:
Yeah.
DONESHA:
And a lot of times mental health, especially in health care, is looked as a one-size-fits-all.
And I had a chance many times to go to conferences to speak on behalf of students at school and what we need here for people who struggle a lot. I recently just went to a conference that was in Richmond, and they're trying their best to lay a foundation for students to have what they need because many times it feels like mental health is more of like a push, like, here you go, you got your resources now. Go on about your day. More than understanding that this is something that people face every day, right?
So, I had plenty of opportunities to sit down, advocate on behalf of mental health and athletes, first-year students in college. I know my paper is about first-year students in college, and experiencing depression and anxiety for the first time. I also did research in understanding depression and women's health and understanding how depression doesn't typically can come on to a person just naturally.
That's the difference of me dividing someone who's mentally ill and someone who just had mental health issues. Sometimes someone is going through the lack of vitamins. So I did research on vitamin D deficiency, and side effects is depression in women.
I also did different things that is towards women's health with mental health. I did so much with that because of my psych major and understanding what it's like to know the difference between, oh, this person is dealing with mental health issues versus this person is mentally ill, right? They need something.
And also looking at it as the holistic outside view because a lot of times in health care, there's no alternative for someone, for a person who wants to take care of themselves because sometimes someone who's facing mental health, they just need a routine. They just need something instead of just constantly misleading them with medication. So my paper was also about that.
CADIE:
Yeah, that's so valuable.
Again, this is a topic that I'm very passionate about. I've had a lot of experience, a lot of firsthand experience with mental health.
And to me, it angers me the way that we treat mental health support as, well, at least we offer it.
What do you mean anxiety and depression still happen? What do you mean? You're on antidepressants. What do you mean you still go through depressive episodes? And I hate how I know people where they were put on antidepressants and then that didn't work for them.
And then they tried therapy, and the therapist just wasn't a match, which does happen. They weren't willing to go again, try and find somebody who might be a better match.
What do you do then? I feel like, as much as mental health has become destigmatized, and that's a good thing, and as much as it is becoming more of a norm to be like, oh, yeah, I go to therapy, or oh, yeah, I have these meds, that's still the only two options we sort of have.
So shining a light on more options and other coping mechanisms I think is so, so important.
EMMA:
It sounds like, I mean, I know we've already talked about it a lot throughout this episode, but just to go a little deeper, you've had a lot of really valuable and memorable experiences and opportunities outside of the classroom.
DONESHA:
Yeah.
EMMA:
Specifically here at GMU, outside of the classroom, what is one of the most valuable experiences you've had as a psych major?
DONESHA:
I would say definitely, outside of the classroom experience or outside of Mason, was advocating for mental health and being able to do that correctly. A lot of times people advocate, and they're not doing it right. But sitting in those classrooms and being able to know and understand different parts of mental health and different parts of the brain and different parts of why a behavior is happening for my person had helped me go out and advocate in a way that, one, of course, like a lot of people sleep on psychology thinking, you know, psychology is me understanding the brain.
But now, no, psychology has helped me understand that, oh, if someone is having issues, you know, they're not ill, they just need X, Y, and Z, right? Or someone who's mentally ill, what is something that we can do for this person? And I feel like just having the chance to advocate was the biggest thing I took away from my experiences. And I think it pushed me. It made me draw even more close to my major because now half of my research opportunities is around my major. It's not outside.
It's always something with behavior, something with mental health, it's something with just like women's health, of course, the pre-med side. But I feel like it helped me to be more confident knowing that my major is great. So, yeah.
EMMA;
I appreciate how you highlighted that there is good advocacy and then there's harmful advocacy. And I think that a lot of people do very well from taking a moment to learn about... because I think it's great that so many individuals and groups have the willingness and the desire to advocate for others, but especially if you're coming from an outside perspective or a beginner's mindset, it's good to take those educational opportunities to learn how to advocate effectively.
CADIE:
Yeah.
You spoke about how your research really encompasses what you want to do.
It's in your career field. And on that note, what research would you like to contribute to the field of psychology?
DONESHA:
The research I'm doing now, mental health and academics, is so good. It's so good, you guys.
It helped me as a person because it goes back to the advocacy, like the way how I advocate for people is going off of people experiences. That's what helped me to advocate. And recently, my fall semester, I just had a rough patch because it was my first year here at Mason.
It was hard for me to balance going straight to private, public. Trust me, it is different. To me, it might be so much different.
From there, I watched my grades slip, and it made me want to do a study on it because a lot of times you will see someone's grades slipping. You just think this person just don't know anything or they got a lot of stuff going on at home. But sometimes it's more than what you think it is, right? There's your social factors, your environmental factors, it's the changes of life, it's you being, you know, I like to call a premature adult, for the very first time.
So my research is basically focusing on what mental health does to incoming students and their academics. Comparing it from the first day, first start on campus, versus after midterms or, you know, after the semesters and how a lot of times using resources the wrong way can affect them. And I go in talking about how the over-reliance of medication can affect the patient.
You know, it's nothing wrong. I don't want people to come and think I'm bashing medicine. There's nothing wrong with medicine, but sometimes it can be used wrongfully. And sometimes medicine just numbs the symptoms. It doesn't really correct or it doesn't really change the actual thing that's wrong with the person.
So, my paper focused more not to bash anyone, but just focused more of how can we make it correctly? How can we understand the difference between a student who just experienced mental health for the first time, depression for the first time, anxiety for the first time, going to therapy and saying, “Hey, this is my first time experiencing these symptoms, what can I do?” Versus someone who has chronic depression.
Because at the end of the day, who would you give the medicine to? Would you give it to a student who just experienced this stuff for the first time? Maybe they need to build a routine. “Hey, let's try X, Y, and Z. Let's try doing this,” instead of just saying, “Okay, let me put you on these medications.”
Because now the student got a lot to worry about. They got to wake up early, take their medicine. They got to study. They have to do X, Y, and Z. Versus someone who actually suffers from chronic depression.
I think that's probably one of my best papers I would like to push for psychology is to understand mental health and academics.
CADIE:
Yeah, and also understanding that once you are put on that medicine, that doesn't work for everybody. What do we do then? What coping mechanisms do we use to help and to aid? Because unfortunately a lot of people with chronic depression, chronic anxiety, the reason why it's chronic is that it cannot be healed.
DONESHA:
Right, yeah.
But it can be helped, and it can be aided, and there can be coping mechanisms so that way when you are going under a depressive episode, when you are having an anxiety attack, you're able to pinpoint these are thoughts that I am indeed having, but they are not valid thoughts about myself. They are not good examples of who I am, of what people think about me, of what life is, what are grounding techniques that you can use, things like that.
Sorry, I'm wondering how vulnerable do I be on episode one? This is episode one.
DONESHA::
Yeah, I'm the same way. Me and mental health, it's like starting a fire. Once you put wood in, I'm just going to keep burning, okay? It's just going to be that way.
EMMA:
I will add some of my thoughts, because I'm also in therapy, and I've been on that journey for a while, I remembered one of my psychiatrists a couple of years ago was, because I will say, I think if you're starting this journey of mental health and trying to get a grasp on yours, it can be easy to fall into the idea that medicine is a catch-all, and it's like, we'll just fix everything, right?
I remember my psychiatrist was saying, no, it can help, but you'll still have this diagnosis. You'll still have these things to deal with.
And that's why, Cadie, like you were saying, it's important, and like you were saying as well, it's important to have these other resources and strategies to cope with mental health.
You know what? We've had so many tangents on this podcast so far, or we will as listeners, we'll go on to listen, but this could be a Global Gateway podcast, this could be a psychology podcast. This is fantastic.
CADIE:
I just want to say to anybody who is listening who may have struggled with mental health, have mental health issues, have been diagnosed with a mental health illness, you are valid, you are loved, and please take up space.
DONESHA:
Yes. Take up space.
You're not making an excuse.
CADIE:
Yeah, if the reason why you're unable to do something is your depression or your anxiety or whatever else it may be, because depression and anxiety are not the only mental health issues that exist. It is not an all-encompassing list.
I want to make that very clear. They are some of the most common, and they are the two that get thrown around a lot, but if your mental health is the genuine reason why you're unable to do something, then it is not necessarily an excuse.
DONESHA:
Right.
CADIE:
Now, if you are harming another person, then that is something you need to apologize for. Again, we're going back to what are the coping mechanisms, what are the things that we can do to try and aid this, to try and help this, so that way I am not harming people again. But also understand that you are not a terrible person because you are going through these things.
DONESHA:
Right.
CADIE:
I think I'm done with my soapbox. I might get back on it later.
DONESHA:
I'm going to start saying that “I'm done with my soapbox.”
EMMA:
Before we go to the next question, I do also want to add, and Donesha, please join me in this patriot leader mindset, but George Mason does have a lot of resources to help students with their mental health, or even because there's counseling and psychological services, or CAPS, but we also have, if you're struggling with your academics and you need help with some resources, you can go to Success Coaching. They take a very holistic view in their approach.
You can always talk to your advisor. If you have a mentor here out on campus, reach out to them. There are a lot of resources and individuals here who are more than happy to help you.
Continuing on, Donesha, what are some common misconceptions about psychology that people have?
DONESHA:
That's a great question, because honestly, I could go all night about it.
EMMA:
You can go on your soapbox.
DONESHA:
Yes, I can go on my soapbox.
The most popular one is psychology, you don't make money in it. That's the most famous one I heard, I've seen on TikTok, social media. You would go through the comments, they're like, oh, psychology is a bad major, can't do nothing with it, can't get nowhere with it.
They would say, I mean, at least you have, like you have to get a master's. Well, of course, of course you want to, probably want to pursue a higher education, but I feel like that was the biggest thing I took away from it. Other, you know, places or words and things people talk about psychology was saying how it's really nothing you can do in psych.
That was another thing, but all of it is a lie.
I know a lot of people who's making great money with their psych degree. I know a lot of people who've done a lot of things having a psych degree, but those are my most famous takeaways because I know sometimes it did trouble me. I was like, dang, I'm going to get this degree and then I'm going to live in a box.
It made me very upset, but I wouldn't trade it for a world. So I was like, this degree is going to do something because there's a lot.
I tell people all the time, I always tell people there's so much you can do. You get your PhD.
There's like a psychology doctor. There's like, they call it like psyche. You can be a clinical psychologist. You can work in professional care.
And so like the marketplace as a psych major, you could go farther and pursue medicine. Like I'm doing, hey, MD in psychology. Yes.
You could do something in ABA. Also I'm doing as a part-time job. They make great money, RBT.
You can do so much. And those are just like the little things, you know, there's a lot that you can do in psychology. You got ABA. You’ve got, what is it? I can't think of the top of my head, but Neuropsychology, Cognitive Psychology, there it goes.
You can work more with understanding different techniques of the brain and the matter. So, I would just tell people who's a psych major, don't feel like psychology is the worst major ever or there's nothing there to do in psych. There's so much you can do.
You just have to look at psychology in a broader concept. That's what I do. Never keep it small because there's so much you can do in psychology.
EMMA:
Yeah.
That brings to mind one of my friends at Nova, before I transferred to Mason, she was also a psychology student, but she was getting, she wanted to get her BA in psychology. And she actually wanted to go into like the FBI or go in, because it made me think how like there's also like organizations and companies.
There's like, isn't there like Organizational Psychology?
DONESHA:
That's what I was trying to mention when I said a market. So yeah, Organizational Psychology, people that works and like they could do health professions. They could do anywhere, you know, helps to bring everyone together.
That's what I like to call it. They're more like the glue for the pieces.
EMMA:
But you're right.
There is so much. I want to ask you the field of psychology as broad as it is, what do you think it can do to change people's minds and the misconceptions that they hold?
DONESHA:
I would say just more advocating about what psychology is. A lot of times where there's no advocating for something, a lot of people will start to put their opinions on it and start to think that this is something when it's not.
You can ask someone, you know, what they know about psychology and some of them probably say, well, I know that there's therapy. They're like, you could be a counselor, right? They probably don't know about organizational, probably won't know about a psyche. I didn't know about it till I did my research.
Or you would hear people say, you know, a lot of times they get a PhD, but sometimes they just, you know, fall around those two categories. But if psychology start to advocate itself about these are different jobs that you can do having a psych major. There's a lot of things that you can do in the process of being a psych major.
You don't always have to be a therapist for a psych degree. You can do so much more.
CADIE
For students who are interested in learning more about the psych program and its offerings, what do you recommend that they do?
DONESHA:
Definitely reach out.
I tell people as hard as it might sound, I know sometimes that it's hard to talk and build connections, but that was the only way for me to make it to where I am now was networking and connections.
Doing my own research too, sometimes it's hard to depend on people because everyone is doing something right. So being your own guinea pig, trying it and testing it, researching and understanding what psychology can bring to you and what can it help you with, right? I will definitely recommend for students to try, but it's just connections for me. Going out, building connections, asking questions, don't be afraid to ask those questions, would definitely help you to know more about your major.
EMMA:
Okay, I know we've asked this question in like it's five different variations and maybe that's a thing Cadie and I need to revisit with script, but what has been your most fruitful experience in the psych program?
DONESHA:
It's okay, I'm trying to think of other experiences. Okay, so my most, I did, I mentioned research, I'm mentioned the kids and development, I'm mention my RBT job. Okay, I never mentioned about my mental health aid.
EMMA:
Oh yeah!
CADIE:
Yeah!
DONESHA:
Som I am right now currently applying to be an EMT. I'm waiting to get my fingerprints and all paperwork done, but one thing I mentioned to the chief there, I told him that I had my mental health aid, and he mentioned a lot of times how as being an EMT, you experience so much traumatically when it comes to just being out on the road and helping people. And he looked back at me he said that's where a mental health aid would come in, to be able to help and sit down and talk to people and walk it through.
And I feel like that was one experience for me. I was like, yes, I get to use my certificate.
Other times is when I'm talking with people around me, my job as a peer academic coach here. I know sometimes we're not allowed to go too far with our clients, but I always tell my clients that I'm here for you to help you find a balance between academics and your well-being. I don't say mental health, I just say well-being. Because it's definitely important to know that you matter and to know that you're not in college by yourself.
I feel like having that certificate has made me feel legal to now address a situation with a person and not feeling like I'm overstepping. Unless I have permission, it's all about asking before doing. But yeah, my mental health aid certificate has played a tremendous role with now kind of being there and being able to talk to people and help them through whatever they're going through.
CADIE:
Yeah, absolutely.
Donesha, I can't believe that I'm even saying this because this time has flown by so fast, but we've come to our very last question. And we like to ask all of our guests the same final question.
And as you are the first guest, you're the first one to hear it. Our question is, what advice would you give for our listeners, specifically any freshmen who are majoring or minoring in the psych department right now?
DONESHA:
Wow, nice question.
CADIE:
Thank you, thank you.
DONESHA:
I guess to make it short and sweet, just know that your journey is always going to look different from others.
Your path is your path. Your walk is your walk. You don't have to feel like you have to rush or run when you see someone else running.
You can wait and you can do it at your own pace. Didn't want to make that rhyme, but it's the truth. I learned that the more I looked at other people's lives, the more I got lost in mine.
But the more I stay on track of my own life, the more I started to figure out things that I want to do. And I started to feel confident in the rooms and places and jobs because now I'm not doing this for other people, or I'm not doing this to feel accepted by the world, but I'm doing this because I chose to do it. So my advice is just whatever you want to do, be happy if you like doing it and your journey is yours.
EMMA:
Thank you for saying that. I think that is very good advice to share and very good advice to close out our, my goodness, our very first episode, official episode. So thank you, Donesha, for joining us.
DONESHA:
Of course. Thank you for having me.
EMMA:
You offered incredible insight and you've just been lovely to talk to.
Is there anything you would like to shout out or promote? Anyone you'd like to shout out or promote? Where can listeners find you on social media or in CHSS?
DONESHA:
Oh, yeah. Well, shout out to my professor at Therapeutic Communication. Because of you, I know how to sit down and not laugh in a client's face when they're telling me about their problems.
Shout out to my Patriot leaders over the summer.
Yes, I was able to break my shell. I'm not introverted. I'm actually, what is it? Extroverted. Yeah. You can follow me on my socials is love Donesha.
Just simple. Love Donesha. It's two extra E's for love.
And then it's just Donesha, D-O-N-E-S-H-A. TikTok is the same thing. Love Denisha.
EMMA:
Do you have a LinkedIn?
DONESHA:
Oh, my LinkedIn? Yes. Please follow me on LinkedIn. It's Donesha George.
So D-O-N-E-S-H-A and George, G-E-O-R-G-E.
EMMA:
All right. Well, once again, Donesha, thanks for being here.
Listeners, thank you so much for listening to this episode of CHSS Connection.
CADIE:
Hey, thank you for listening to this episode of CHSS Connection. This podcast is hosted and written by Emma Howard and Cadie Junker.
Our audio engineer is Dennis Gabitov. Our supervisor is Eleana Velasco. This podcast is produced by George Mason University's College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
Special thanks to the Mason Innovation Exchange for their recording studio. The podcast could not happen without them. This project was developed in collaboration with Career Services and the On Campus Internship Program.
If you love the show and want to interact with more of our content, follow us on Instagram @chsspod or check out the CHSS website where there is an ongoing library of our episodes. You can also be a potential guest on our podcast.
EMMA:
If you enjoyed the show and would like to express your support, there are a few things you can do.
You can leave a review wherever you are listening to this podcast. You can help by word of mouth, either by telling someone directly who might be interested in the show or posting about it on social media, tagging at @chsspod. All these things help support the show and we appreciate anyone who has done it or will do so in the future.
Again, thank you for tuning in to this episode. We hope you will tune in to the next episode where we are joined by CeCe Keen to discuss different resources that CHSS students can utilize. But until then, stay curious,
CADIE:
Stay creative!
BOTH:
And stay connected.