Here is a quick overview of what I did. I had a stats class, which was actually somewhat enjoyable. It involved a lot of programing, which was kind of a fun puzzle, and I learned a lot more than I ever have in a stats class before. Then I had a family science theories class. I’m kind of a geek about theory, so I really liked this class. I also liked that it was mostly discussion and writing- well, and a lot of reading, which I completed occasionally. Family science is an interdisciplinary field that sits somewhere between sociology and psychology, so a lot of our theories are theories from those disciplines applied to families. My other research class was a qualitative research methods class. This class was also a lot of fun (notice a theme?). Qualitative research, if you don’t know, involves interviews or literary analysis as opposed to numbers and stats, generally speaking. This class had fun discussion and a full research project. I interviewed people about their experience being in a family in which there is trauma. I’m planning to present the results at a conference next year but don’t think I’ll take the time to submit it to a journal, but we’ll see. Finally, my last real class was a class on mass trauma. Obviously, this was great because this topic is my main area of interest. The majority of the class was spent learning and practicing a type of therapy.
In the last two weeks of class I think I typed about 70 pages and for the semester I would estimate over 100 pages written, thousands of pages read, 11 stats assignments, five presentations, and lots of other miscellaneous work (interviews, lit reviews, transcribing, etc…).
I also had an orientation type class and clinical supervision. I think I got all A’s, but who’s keeping track and who cares? Not me. I care about how many articles I get published, how many presentations I do, and what types of experiences I get, grades are secondary at best.
My assistantships (my two 10-hour-per-week jobs that pay me, give me free tuition, and pay for my health care) were fairly easy compared to some. I think this is what made my transition to the PhD program and 16 credits doable. I am primarily working on three things. First, I am working with three faculty members and one other to redesign the program requirements- because our program requires an inhumane number of credits. I am also working on turning a previously written dissertation into a journal article, which is not a very interesting paper but I enjoy writing and crafting articles. Finally, I am helping my main professor (who will be my advisor) to get trauma-related projects running.
One of these projects is an interest group for some of us who are interested in trauma. We bounce ideas off each other, give feedback on projects, and discuss future paper and project plans. Some people have said that they thought a PhD was going involve a lot of sitting around in coffee shops, having intellectually stimulating discussions but that wasn’t the case at all. Well, I’m making sure that I have some of that and this interest group is one way to facilitate some of those times.
As far as other things go, my private practice (CJMtherapy) is going really well, I’m close to submitting my first journal article, I should have another book review published soon, and I’ve been asked to do some speaking (which I really enjoy). Anyone who reads this post probably knows, but I also may have some field work coming up this summer, which I’ll write about if it is confirmed. I do know that I’ll be going to Germany for a week at the beginning of March to help with a training.
In sum, I love it. It is definitely a sacrifice but I feel that it’s a great fit and I’m right where I should be right now. My cohort is a great group of people and fairly diverse in background and interests. I’ve learned that I’m not way out of my league in academia (self-disclosure- I was worried I might be), and that maybe I do have something to offer. I’ve learned that, unfortunately, there are still stupid people in PhD programs. And I’ve learned my ability to focus and think deeply for extended periods of time lasts about two weeks less than the length of a semester.
Hopefully this gives you a general idea of what I do.
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