The study of behavior and minds is called psychology.  Practicing psychologists help a wide variety of people. They work people through emotions and help individuals deal with chronic issues. They also aid in overcoming stress and overcoming addiction. In Athens, the school psychologist can also help students cope with classes and do well on tests.

“I’ve been trained at the Master’s level. This is the final step to getting my PhD,” said Julie Anderson, the school psychologist.

There are multiple types of psychologists. There are many subfields to study, including school psychology and clinical psychology.  In the context of Athens Drive High School, school psychology is the subfield students and staff are most likely to encounter .

“Two examples of those are clinical psychology and counselling psychology. If you want to be a clinical psychologist there’s a specific educational track. For a school psychologist there is a different track or program. Other psych programs would allow you to be licensed as a psychologist,” said Anderson.

Psychologists help using therapy, which includes cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic techniques. They work with other healthcare professionals for overall treatment.

“What methods would I use to help people? Counselling, mostly one on one counselling, small group counselling mostly,” said Anderson.

Anderson entered psychology “…because I wanted to work with kids and make school a better place,”

Psychologists also do research using a variety of methods including surveys.

“What type of method I would use for research? And that would be qualitative methods. So interviews. To me that would be preferential. Interviews and survey research,” said Anderson.

People become psychologists for a variety of reasons. Individuals may enter the field because of the prospect of helping people. They may want to understand the mind. One motivation to enter into a psychology career might be financial. The median salary for a psychologist is $88,951 per year, with salaries ranging from 79 thousand to 101 thousand dollars per year as of December 28, 2016.

Anderson entered psychology “…because I wanted to work with kids and make school a better place.

Noah Ferguson, a senior at Athens Drive High School, thinks highly of the field. He took a psychology class offered here at Athens and highly recommends taking the class.

“The psychology class is very interesting so far, I believe it is a class people should take to gain a better understanding of the human mind. I believe it is a great field and it is much

needed in our society. It had given me a better understanding of the mind and why you may think  certain things,” said Ferguson.

Clinical psychologists often set their own work hours. Self-reported claims from psychologists range from 40 to 60 hour work weeks. Psychologists work in all sorts of places. They are involved in schools, hospitals, research laboratories, conservation projects, disaster relief, crime labs, large companies, sports and rehabilitation. This level of freedom and choice may make becoming a psychologist appealing.

Three of the most attended universities for psychologists are Stanford, UC Berkeley and UCLA. In addition, UNC Chapel Hill also offers a psychology program.

According to Anderson, a bachelor’s degree in psychology takes four years to complete, a Master’s degree takes two to three additional years to complete and a PhD takes between three and seven years to complete, depending on whether or not the aspiring psychologist got the Master’s degree first. Anderson will have her PhD in three years due to the completion of her Master’s degree.

“ My main goal… I’m interested in helping schools develop wellness programs to address the social and emotional health of students…. Because I really think that relates to academic achievement,” said Anderson.

Image courtesy of The American Psychological Association.