BT天堂

Menu

Alumni Spotlight

Timothy Ryan Southerland, Ph.D. Counseling Psychology

What are you doing now, and where?Picture of Timothy Southerland

I’m an active duty psychologist in the United States Air Force and stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base. I work at the 19th Medical Group and provide mental health services for all military branches in the state. My duties include providing counseling services, but also psychological evaluations for special assignments, flying status, fitness for duty, and security clearances. I work closely with a number of base, community, and local government helping agencies in order to improve the lives of military members and their families.

听What is your current title?

Captain, Clinical Psychologist

Tell us about your experience at UCA’s Psychology and Counseling program.

BT天堂provided me an excellent opportunity to build my clinical and research skills. I was able to take an active part in the program gaining APA accredited status. My experience at BT天堂enabled me to be competitive and prepared for an APA accredited internship with the Air Force right outside of Washington DC. This allowed me to be the first psychologist from BT天堂to enter into active duty military service.

Please share any recent accomplishments, honors, or good news.

I have been placed in charge of Task Force West, an embedded support team that is assigned to work directly within high risk units. This allows me time to work outside of the clinic each week and meet with military members on the flight line while they work. Being able to provide mental health services right next to a C-130 is certainly a unique experience!听

What advice do you have for current students?

Keep your perspective on the big picture and frequently remind yourself of how your classwork is related to your future goals. It’s easy to get bogged down with assignments that seem like they have little value to you now, but there will come a day when you will realize how much you have learned through your years of education.

Devon Patterson, Ph.D. Counseling Psychology

What are you doing now, and where?Headshot Photo of DeVon Patterson

Currently working as a general psychologist at Baptist Health system in Jacksonville, FL

What is your current title?

Psychologist

Tell us about your experience at UCA’s Psychology and Counseling program.

I am thankful for the training experiences at UCA. Even years later, I still reflect on the quality of courses, professors, and peers during my time in the School Psychology doctoral program. I have worked in positions in several states (AZ, CA, FL); I consistently find that the depth and quality of my training experiences often exceed those of my colleagues.

Please share any recent accomplishments, honors, or good news.

I work at the largest psychology practice in Northeast Florida (10+ psychiatrists, 30+ psychologists, 10+ master’s level mental health clinicians). I am thankful to have been recently named one of the Chiefs of the psychology practice – a role held by approximately 4-5 other psychologists. Holding a leadership role at this early stage in my career, speaks to the quality of training offered within the BT天堂Psychology & Counseling department. In my role as one of the Chiefs, I am evaluating clinical data across the practice (e.g., therapy drop-out rates) and implementing system-wide intervention to improve practice outcome data. I am also providing support for clinicians to identify, measure, and improve clinical data to improve patient outcomes.听

What advice do you have for current students?

Seek out different experiences. Students often have a relatively narrow idea of what they would like to do after graduation, often choosing experiences that will move them in that specific direction. Exploring different experiences (less common training sites, varying roles such as consultation, etc) allows you to build a wider skill set that is highly marketable and provide yourself with flexibility later in your career to shift roles if desired.

April Reed, L.P.E., School Psychology Specialist

What are you doing now, and where?

I am working as a School Psychology Specialist for Vilonia School District

What is your current title?

Licensed Psychological Examiner/School Psychology Specialist

Tell us about your experience at UCA’s Psychology and Counseling program.

I received my masters degree in School Psychology in December of 2001 and my experience in the program was great. I worked as a graduate assistant and made lasting friendships and memories while attending the program.

Please share any recent accomplishments, honors, or good news.

My colleague, Jennifer Shock, and I work to establish great rapport with all staff (janitor to superintendent), parents and students in order to create an environment where everyone works together to ensure student success academically, socially, emotionally and behaviorally. There is not much recognition in our field, however, we can see the fruit of our efforts by individual “thank you’s”, appreciative phone calls or emails, and being called on frequently for our assistance and input.

What advice do you have for current students?

My advice is to treat a teacher with utmost respect and listen to them. Don’t make assumptions. Know your role. Most likely you have never been a teacher and you really have no idea how to manage and teacher a classroom full of students. So, never give a teacher a list of modifications, accommodations, strategies, etc. without careful observation and input from that teacher.

Marcus Dumas, Psy.D. candidate

What are you doing now, and where?

I am a 4th year PsyD Counseling Psychology student at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. My current practicum assignment is with Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island in the Personal Counseling Center as well as the Athletic Department.

听What is your current title?

Psy.D. Candidate

Tell us about your experience at UCA’s Psychology and Counseling program.

My most memorable experience at BT天堂as psychology undergrad was my intro to psychology course with Dr. Jennifer Brinegar. I made an A in this class and was super excited about having done so. As a student athlete, I took much pride in maintaining great grades in my psych classes while playing football. My junior year was defining as well, and would be the year I learned about Sport Psychology. I took a summer course on this sub-field of psychology and have never looked back since.

Please share any recent accomplishments, honors, or good news.

My most recent accomplishment is being awarded the Springfield College Excellence Scholarship which is given to 2 returning graduate students every year for their outstanding commitment and display of excellence in their graduate studies. I am currently receiving interview invitations from several APA-accredited internship programs across the country right now and this is an exciting time. Currently, I am helping to establish the Sport Performance and Mental Health program with Providence College athletics, which has been a very rewarding experience that will propel me into my desired role as Counseling Psychologist who does athlete focused work on multiple levels.

What advice do you have for current students?

Be curious about everything, pursue your passions relentlessly, and when adversity strikes, lean into it. The difference between an elevator journey and a stair journey is that you can see the steps and not just the number of the floors. The quicker we realize and accept this, the faster we can get to making progress towards our goals and dreams.

Lauren Geier, M.S.

What are you doing now, and where?

As of August, I am the State Director of CASA which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. I am a state employee within the Juvenile Division of the Administrative Office of the Courts and am responsible for oversight of the 23 local CASA agencies around our state. CASA is a National program module that trains volunteers to be appointed by Juvenile Judges to advocate for children involved in the foster care system. Each advocate is assigned to 1 or 2 children and works to build relationships with the child and collect information from the various stakeholders (ie. foster parents, biological family, therapists, physicians, educators, child welfare, etc.) and report to the judge an opinion related to the child’s needs. There are currently over 4,000 children in foster care in our state and while DCFS is making strides to lower caseloads and improve conditions, volunteer advocates have the unique ability to spend more dedicated time to the children as they only have a caseload of 1 or 2 and stay with those children from assignment to permanent placement, whether that is a story of reunification, adoption, or aging out of the system. My role as state director is to be a resource hub and technical assistance stop for the local programs. I also bridge from the local programs to our state legislature and National CASA. I serve on multiple multidisciplinary work groups focused within the child welfare scope.

My new role as State Director of CASA is a bit of a departure from my long career in community mental health. I remain a therapist at heart but after 15+ years, I was ready to take a step back and work on systemic changes that will hopefully impact children who are in foster care and who have experienced trauma for the better. I believe my education, professional experience, and passion for creating trauma-informed systems for children in foster care combine to make me a good fit for this role.

Additionally, I own Geier Counseling and Consultation PLLC in which I provide clinical supervision for new LAC’s. In the future, I may take on a few private practice clients but at present I am focused on my full time job and supporting my supervisees.

What is your current title?

State Director of CASA

Tell us about your experience at UCA’s Psychology and Counseling program.

I earned both my Bachelor’s in Psychology and my Master’s in Community Counseling from UCA. I later returned to complete the Supervision course, as well. I loved my time at BT天堂and felt connected to those in my cohort and to my professors. Looking back, I appreciate the size of the program as well. The professors were sometimes intimidating but always approachable. Being able to meet individually with various professors and advisors prepared me to feel comfortable staffing difficult cases with psychiatrists and present cases in court settings. The fear of so many is whether what they are learning in the program will translate into the working field. After graduating with my master’s, my husband’s Army career took us to Georgia and Tennessee. I found myself working alongside graduates of big name institutions but always had just as much, if not more, competency than my colleagues. In fact, UCA’s focus on exploration of various theoretical orientations, aided me in being able to adapt well to service on multi-disciplinary team settings.

Please share any recent accomplishments, honors, or good news.

I have only been in my current position since August 15. Hopefully by this time next year, CASA will have more accomplishments to list!

What advice do you have for current students?

My biggest piece of advice is to not limit your experience to one area while in school. I remember that on the first day of my first class of grad school, Dr. Rowell asked us to write down one population which we never expected to work. I confidently wrote that I couldn’t/wouldn’t work with young children who had been sexually abused. I’ve found this to be some of the most meaningful work I’ve ever done. I am fortunate that my practicums and internships were broad in scope. I would also add that, if possible, find employment or volunteer opportunities that aid in skill building. I worked for BT天堂housing during undergrad and graduate school and found no better training in being able to manage a large “caseload”, deal with crises, and work within diverse teams. Additionally, time as a camp counselor and at the Conway Human Development Center aided in my personal and professional development.

Another piece of advice is to continue skill building outside of the program’s scope. While my degrees built my counseling foundation, I found other opportunities to help me develop necessary parallel skills including technical writing, management, public speaking, grant writing, and advocacy.

As an avid reader, I will also emphasize the importance of reading both fiction and nonfiction books about the populations you serve. Learning does not end with a diploma. Let me know if you want a book list!

Finally, at the risk of sounding self serving, I will mention that finding a competent clinical supervisor is essential to your development as a practitioner and as a professional who is prepared to defy the high burnout rates in our field. My clinical supervisors (the Georgia licensure process required two supervisors) remain some of the most influential people in my professional and personal life. From them I learned how to ask difficult questions about my practice as a therapist and attribute their influence as preparing me for a successful career. (Thanks Terry and Dr. Mary!)

 

Elizabeth Stout, Ph.D.

What are you doing now, and where?

I am the Training Director for Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. My team and I develop, manage, and maintain our multi-level training program which includes practicum students and masters interns from a variety of disciplines, as well as doctoral students from Counseling Education and Health Service Psychology. When I am not training, I have a special clinical interest in issues of gender and sexuality. I am also proud to be working on the board of the Arkansas Psychological Association to help bring education and advocacy to psychologists (including psychologists-in-training) and psych examiners across the state. If you are not already a member, I strongly encourage you to consider joining (shameless plug).

What is your current title?

Assistant Director/Training Director

Tell us about your experience at UCA’s Psychology and Counseling program.

I was in the very first cohort of the Training Program. As a first generation college student, it seems I have been destined for a lot of firsts. I was the first to go on internship, the first to defend a dissertation, and the first to graduate. I imagine that makes my experience quite unique. As with all firsts, there were a lot of growing pains. Finding new practicum sites was a challenge (especially assessment sites), there were zero alum to look to for support around Qualifying Exams, and research labs were still being developed. On the other hand, I had the ability to co-create my experience with my wonderful cohort in collaboration with the BT天堂faculty. For instance, we were aware of the growing emphasis in Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) and were able to successfully advocate for course training in IBH. I also loved being able to do a mental health study abroad in China with Dr. Xie! Being trusted to build the foundation for a newly developing doctoral program was an honor. Even today, my education is my most valuable possession and my biggest accomplishment.

Please share any recent accomplishments, honors, or good news.

I just got a corgi, which I have always wanted. His name is Hagrid because he is a giant at almost 50 pounds!

I was promoted to Training Director in 2017 and began developing a doctoral internship program. In 2018 we became members of APPIC.

I recently submitted a self-study for our internship program and have been granted a site visit for December. For those who are unfamiliar, a self-study is essentially an application for APA accreditation. Fingers crossed for us that it goes well!

Last spring I was awarded a grant to develop a training library for the internship program.

What advice do you have for current students?

Seek mentorship where you can expect to safely share your vulnerability and be held accountable for personal and professional growth.

Diversify your clinical experience. Take as many practicum experiences as you can across a wide variety of sites (i.e., community mental health, hospitals, assessment settings, private practice) and with as many presenting concerns as you can (i.e., trauma, gender and sexuality concerns, substance abuse, serious mental illness, etc.). As a TD, I one of the things I am looking for is versatility and adaptability.

Take this time to really work on yourself. Question your privileges’ and any ways that you might participate in oppression. Observe your own reactions to conflict and be curious about that. A high degree of self-awareness and insight is one of the most impressive things you can demonstrate in internship and job interviews. This is where you might circle back to number one.