What brought you to UNI?

I came to UNI because of my love for working with older adults and my opportunity to learn more about how to serve our aging population by working with the gerontology department at the Dementia Simulation House. UNI offers so many opportunities to learn how to work with this population that I truly believe are one of the many things that set our university apart from others. 

How did you become interested in your major? 

I became interested in pursuing a career in counseling after doing some self-exploration with my undergraduate academic advisor. He set me up for a job shadow with his wife who was an outstanding counselor, and I instantly fell in love with the career and the ways that counselors can walk alongside people to help them heal and grow. 

My family passed down a respect for older adults by allowing me to have a close, influential relationship with my great-grandmother throughout my childhood. She was someone that I admired and learned so many lessons from. I began my professional journey of working with older adults during college when I worked as a CNA at a long-term care facility in my hometown. I instantly connected with a woman who had dementia because I closely resembled her daughter. My appearance opened the door for me to connect with this woman in such a powerful way that still touches my heart to this day and fueled my passion for working with people who are navigating end of life. 

What did you enjoy most about attending UNI?

My highlight reel from my time at UNI would include many moments from my time spent at my graduate assistantship at the Dementia Simulation House. When I started as a graduate student at UNI, I expected to just keep my head in my studies and pay my dues until I graduated, but the team at the Dementia Simulation House has allowed me to thoroughly enjoy my time as a graduate student and has given me life-long friends that I will cherish long after I graduate. My professors there have provided (and sometimes pushed) me into opportunities that have helped me to significantly grow as a professional and, more importantly, as a person. I am graduating as a more confident, passionate, and open-minded individual largely because of my time at the Dementia Simulation House. 

I have also loved my faculty in the counseling program. I don't think there are words to describe how grateful I am for the professors I've been blessed with. I don't think there are many graduate programs that treat their students with so much understanding and compassion. Throughout my time in the program, I knew that I could trust my faculty with any problems that came up along the way. It was reassuring to know that my professors saw me fully as a human rather than solely as a student. 

How have you been involved outside of the classroom?

I've already spoken a lot to my time at the Dementia Simulation House. During my time there, I was given the opportunity to lead the development of a free cognitive screening clinic, or what we call "brain checkups." I also had numerous research experiences and conference presentations that took me to Puerto Rico, Halifax, NS, and, this summer, Portland, OR. I've presented on topics including dementia education, dementia-friendly restroom design practices, and best practices for cognitive screenings. Our dementia-friendly restroom design research will be published this summer! Through this research, I've built relationships with faculty and students beyond my counseling program, including interior design and speech-language pathology.

Within the counseling program, I've been involved with our honors society, Chi Sigma Iota, serving as secretary while also helping with the organization of our annual Out of the Darkness Walk, which is a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Our program also requires a practicum and internship experience. I completed my practicum at the UNI campus counseling center and am currently finishing up my internship doing school-based counseling with K-12 students through Tanager Place in Cedar Rapids.

Post-graduation plans?

Starting in August, I will be serving as a school-based therapist through Tanager Place at Benton Community Schools in Van Horne, Iowa. In this role, I'll provide mental health counseling services for middle school and high school students. I will also be an adjunct instructor in the gerontology department at UNI, teaching a class called "Mental Health in Adulthood." 

What excites you about your plans? 

I am excited to finally get to serve as a counselor after pouring so much time and energy into preparation! I'm looking forward to the privilege of walking with people through their most vulnerable moments, and I don't take that level of trust for granted! 

Eventually, I would like to get back into the realm of working with older adults because of my passion for this population and the huge gap that exists in mental health care for older adults. However, I also know that there are so many other populations of people who lack access to mental health care, so I am satisfied with wherever I am blessed enough to end up. 

I am so excited to be teaching a course at UNI next year! I've loved my time as a panther and am so thankful that I get to extend that time while talking about a subject that I'm so passionate about (mental health in adulthood). I hope that I'm able to spark some passion for this topic in our undergraduate students because there are so many opportunities available in this field that most students aren't aware of!

How did UNI prepare you for your post-graduation plans?

My confidence has tripled since beginning my studies at UNI. I had always struggled with anxiety around performance, especially when I had to do public speaking of any format. My professors threw me into public speaking opportunities right away, which was intimidating and scary at first, but eventually, I was able to work through the anxiety and uncover some new confidence in myself as an educator, so much so that I'll be teaching a course at UNI next year. 

Our counseling program also has opportunities to gain experience with so many different populations of people. I'm graduating with a gerontology distinction, meaning that I have gained special experiences and education in working with older adults. However, we also take a course in working with children and adolescents, and our faculty members encourage us to use our internship experiences to try on different hats with different groups of people. The diverse menu of experiences has been really helpful for me as I've learned to be confident in my abilities to work with individuals crossing almost the entire life span, from elementary school to end of life. 

What advice would you give to incoming students?

Don't feel like you need to have all the answers right now. There is so much time left to grow and so many career options you haven't even heard of yet! Try new things, especially the ones that seem scary at first glance. You will learn about yourself and grow as a human, which I would argue is the most important part of the college experience!