艾米丽·理查森(Emily Richardson)进入高等教育的旅程可能在今年早些时候完成了她的博士学位.D. in counseling education and supervision, but it began in 2001 at the University of Michigan, 她在哪里获得了生物心理学和认知科学的学士学位. Shortly after completing her undergraduate studies, 理查森意识到她可以在教育上更进一步, 她选择在底特律仁慈大学(University of Detroit Mercy)攻读成瘾咨询硕士学位.
“我最初进入咨询行业是因为我知道我想帮助别人, especially people with addiction-related issues,” she said. “我想更多地了解人们是如何发展的……以及如何从上瘾中恢复过来的.”
Richardson completed her master’s degree in 2010, 但她知道，她获得博士学位的愿望最终会战胜她，这只是时间问题. 当时，她正在她的工作地点接受博士的监督. James Hansen, 一位公开大学心理咨询系的教授，鼓励她申请公开大学的心理咨询博士课程. 理查森被该项目录取，并于2012年秋季开始了她的学习.
“我知道我想攻读咨询领域的博士学位，以帮助培养下一代咨询师,” she said. “I liked that [OU’s] program had a good reputation, 这对我来说是当地的，教授们似乎也很支持我.”
事实证明，教授们的支持是理查森学习的推动力. Dr. Robert Fink, professor emeritus, 她是这个项目的第一位顾问，对她影响特别大吗, 为她提供了宝贵的知识，如何与年轻人进行治疗，甚至帮助她克服了作为一名新的博士生的冒名顶替综合症的感觉.
“他是最早让我觉得自己属于这个项目的教授之一,” Richardson said. “他很热情，很好地展示了教授与学生有效沟通的方式.”
Richardson also cited Drs. Mike Chaney, Lisa Hawley和Todd Leibert在她的论文开发和最终完成项目中发挥了“重要”作用——这本身就是一项令人望而生畏的壮举, 一系列生活事件延长了她的博士生涯，这使她的情绪更加强烈.D. student. When the time finally came for her to defend her dissertation, 理查森参加公开大学的心理咨询项目已经10多年了.
Unlike many of her classmates, 理查森全职工作来养活自己，并在攻读博士期间积累临床经验. Shortly after beginning her studies at OU, she became pregnant with her son, and a few years after that, the world was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, radically shifting the landscape for education. 理查森说，大流行“肯定打断了(她的)流动和平衡”，并让她怀疑是否还能获得博士学位, 但多亏了家人的爱和支持，尤其是儿子的爱和支持，她坚持了下来.
“Managing motherhood, 全职工作和全日制博士课程是一种冒险, for sure, and sometimes I look back and I’m not quite sure how I made it,” she said. “但我完全是想向儿子证明教育的重要性, and to persist through challenges to reach your goals. I think I was able to do that, 尽管我现在9岁的儿子喜欢提醒我，他读的书比我的论文还长. Kids are always tough to impress!”
Throughout her time at OU, Richardson lent her talents to Guest House, 位于猎户座湖的一个住院治疗机构，专门为患有精神健康和成瘾相关问题的天主教神职人员和宗教人士提供治疗. As the facility’s lead therapist, 理查森自2014年以来一直为临床团队提供支持, 最终在她在开放大学的学习中发挥了关键作用.
Richardson’s doctoral research was largely influenced by her work at Guest House and focused on the personality traits of Catholic priests with alcohol use disorder; coupled with her coursework, it proved to be integral to the work she does now, not only at Guest House, 同时也是中密歇根大学的兼职教授.
Nowadays, the newly coined Dr. 理查森正在回忆她在公开大学的时光，她为自己的教育经历如何塑造了她作为一名辅导员和教育家的能力而感到自豪.
“(心理咨询)对我来说是一个很好的选择，”理查森说. “我立刻感受到自己对他人的影响，我很感激自己能够将自己的知识和训练分享给那些从中受益的人. [现在]我看到了我为工作场所做出贡献的方式，我将自己的知识运用到进一步提高我们为客户提供的服务质量中. In my role as a professor, 我能够看到我的课程和博士学位的工作经验如何在我对学生的教学方法中体现出来.”
如需更多信息，请访问OU的咨询项目 beijinglife.net/counseling.
January 19, 2024
By Trevor Tyle
